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Bus Purchase: Funding Plan Yet To Be FixedBy akansha, Section Local Transportation
The Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Ltd (PMPML), which had received sanction from the Union ministry of urban development to purchase 650 buses under the Jawaharlal Nehru National urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) in February, is yet to decide the model by which the buses would be operated.
Uncertainty also looms large over whether the PMPML would be able to buy all 650 buses before December 31, the deadline set by the ministry. The Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal corporations were among the first to be selected under the ministry's scheme for funding buses under the JNNURM. The total cost for the procurement of the buses is Rs 233 crore. Fifty per cent of the cost is to be borne by the ministry, while the remaining 30% and 20% is to be shared by the two municipal corporations and the state government respectively. While the Union ministry has released its 50% share, the state government is yet to release its funds, PMPML officials said. Speaking to TOI, Satish Kulkarni, joint managing director of PMPML, said a final decision on whether to opt for a public-private partnership (PPP) model or the municipal corporations putting in their own funds to buy the buses is yet to be taken by the PMPML board of directors. Finer details of the PPP model too are yet to be decided. The board of directors has had preliminary discussions on the issue, he said. The matter would be taken up again at the board meeting later this month, Kulkarni added. If the board decides to opt for the PPP model, private operators would provide 30% of the amount, which is about Rs 70 crore. If the municipal corporations decide to pay the amount themselves, then the model for operation of the buses and routes would be decided accordingly, he said. According to Kulkarni, an advance for procuring 200 buses has been paid. The orders for buying the buses were issued in April. The PMC has provided Rs 15.69 crore so far. The PMPML has already received 81 buses till now. The remaining 450 buses would be available only after a decision is taken on the funding pattern for the buses. Source: Times Of India Bus purchase: Funding plan yet to be fixed Click On "Full Story" For More....
Asked whether the process for purchase of all buses would be wrapped up before December-end, the deadline set by the ministry, Kulkarni said that the purchase may be delayed.
The procurement of buses has already been mired in controversies. Several citizens' groups have strongly opposed the PMPML's plan to purchase AC buses, and also the PPP proposal. PMPML authorities now say the plan to buy AC buses has been temporarily put on the backburner as a result. Meanwhile, city-based group Pedestrians First has raised questions about the inordinate delay in the purchase of the buses. In a letter sent to urban development secretary M Ramachandran earlier this month, Prashant Inamdar, convenor of Pedestrians First, said all 650 buses should have been delivered by October-end. Inamdar said it is necessary that the state government should promptly pay its share. "In case the state government delays releasing its 20% share, the PMC and PCMC should pay the entire amount themselves to avoid a delay in the delivery of buses. They should simultaneously pursue the matter of the 20 per cent share with the state government," he said. The PMP Pravasi Manch has urged the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) authorities not to purchase AC buses as the they are more costly and only 55 per cent of the commuters would go for it. The citizens' group have demanded that the PMPML's agreement with Tata Automotive should be modified instead of buying 200 AC buses, 600 non-AC buses should be purchased with the same cost. The PMPML bus purchase issue is in the news since corporator Vikas Mathkari alleged that 40 AC buses, which the PMPML had ordered, are lying idle at a yard in Mhalunge and that they should be brought on the roads. However, activists are against the purchase of AC buses, saying that they do not serve the purpose of providing a cheap mode of public transport. "It is not to the advantage of citizens nor to the PMPML. Because, at the cost of 200 AC buses, 600 non-AC buses can ply on roads. Moreover, though the order was for 200 buses, only 16 have arrived in Pune until now," said Vivek Velankar, social activist. "The transport company should not buy AC buses at all. It should sell off the AC buses which have already arrived," Velankar added.
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