For the maintenance and running of Amritsar’s Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS) corridor, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Tuesday authorised the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB) to work on a PPP (public–private partnership) model.
Capt Amarinder, chairing the 35th meeting of the PIDM Board of Directors, also gave his approval for the establishment of Convention Centres in ludhiana, Mohali and Amritsar, besides a Recreational Centre at ludhiana, to be executed by GlADA, GMADA, ADA and GlADA respectively.
Nod has also been given to a proposal by the Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh to have an inbuilt hotel facility in the premises of these Convention Centres.
Capt Amarinder directed the Department to complete the bidding process within three months to execute the project in PPP mode.
On the BRTS Amritsar project, the state local Government and Tourism Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu pointed out that though the system was badly conceived by the previous government, the present government had decided to try and make the most of it, for the maximum benefit of the people, since a lot of money had already been spent on it.
The Chief Minister directed the Department to make the BRTS in Amritsar fully operational by April 15, 2018, in order to facilitate the commuters to travel seamlessly on one hand and decongest the vehicular traffic on the other.
The Principal Secretary (local Government) A Venu Prasad said that the ongoing construction of bridges for smooth implementation of BRTS would be completed soon.
Responding to Sidhu’s suggestion for the creation of an Urban Transport Fund (UTF) for the operation and maintenance of BRTS, Capt Amarinder asked Prasad to make an annual provision of Rs 10 crore for the purpose.
Capt Amarinder also asked the local Government Department to ascertain the feasibility of introducing the BRTS in ludhiana and Jalandhar too, after ascertaining the success of the Amritsar project.
Notably, the Amritsar BRTS project was launched “in haste” by the Akali government towards the fag end of its tenure in a clear attempt to gain political mileage, but tardy implementation and lack of planning posed a serious hurdle.
Capt Amarinder also instructed the Transport Department to formulate a comprehensive proposal to set up modern bus stands in PPP mode in all major cities of the state. Principal Secretary (Transport) Sarvjit Singh has been asked to work out a detailed plan, in consultation with the respective MlAs, for the construction of around 50 such bus stands.
He also gave his nod for the empanelment of eight more transaction advisors in PIDB to ensure timely and efficacious implementation of the development projects in the state.
