Ahmedabad Janmarg Ltd's (AJL) ambitious plan to give  commuters a comfortable and enjoyable ride on the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) may not see the light of day soon.

COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

The parent company instituted as a Special Purpose Vehicle by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) had invited expression of interest (EoI) from bus makers across the globe. However, only four companies have evinced interest and AJL bosses are not happy with the products presented by them.

AJL had invited EoI for purchasing 145 buses for BRTS in mid-September 2011. The proposal for purchasing 125 buses was already approved under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), said a senior AJL official.

Four companies - Volvo, Mercedes, Tata Motors and Corana Bus from Pune - made a presentation to the company a couple of days ago. AJL officials expected response from couple of companies from Korea, Dubai and Japan but they did not turn up for some reason.

The four companies which presented, it seems, did not impress AJL officials. "Volvo does not have 900 mm height required for buses plying on the BRTS route. Mercedes buses are used in Latin America but they are left-hand driven buses which cannot be used directly here," said an AJL official. The company is likely to take more time in changing their design to suit AJL's purpose. However, once the prototype is approved, there will not be much problem in supplying buses, he said.

Another official believed that models presented by companies were not up to their expectations. "AJL is ready to spend Rs80 lakh to Rs90 lakh per bus so obviously expectation of people will be higher from these buses and we must take into consideration this before taking a final call," said the official.

The company had placed order for 20 air-conditioned buses from Ashok Leyland. However, the prototype of air-conditioned bus produced by the company was found to be below standards and as a result, the contract awarded to the company was cancelled.

Utpal Paida, executive director of AJL, said that they will discuss the issue with municipal commissioner once he is back in the office before taking any decision.

As per the terms and conditions of JNNURM, AJL was supposed to purchase buses from indigenous companies only. Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland have been awarded contracts for supplying buses for BRTS and feeder routes. Having burnt its fingers in awarding contracts to indigenous players, the company has sought approval from JNNURM authority to allow them to buy buses from foreign companies, said the official.

Interestingly, all the new buses will be air-conditioned. At present, the AJL's fleet of 82 BRTS buses has only five air-conditioned buses.