Two firms — RITES, the public sector engineering consultancy firm specialising in transport infrastructure under the aegis of the Indian Railways, and Aarvee Associates, a private sector multi-disciplinary engineering consulting company based in Hyderabad — have bid for preparing the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the proposed Elevated Bus Rapid Transport System (EBRTS).
The Request for Proposal (RFP) for selecting a consultant for DPR for the estimated ₹2,400-crore EBRTS corridor from Kukatpally Housing Board (KPHB) to Financial District in Gachibowli was floated earlier this month by the Hyderabad Airport Metro Ltd (HAML).
The HAML is government’s special purpose vehicle formed to build the elevated metro rail up to Shamshabad Airport from Raidurg. It is also the facilitating agency to build this new elevated public transport system to cater to Gachibowli and environs.
Rapid growth
Gachibowli and its environs witnessed rapid growth, in association with the TS Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TSIIC) and the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA).
Electric articulated twin/three buses joined by a vestibule are to be exclusively run on this 18-20 km corridor connecting HiTec City MMTS station, HICC, Hitex, MindSpace junction, Gachibowli and Narsingi with elevated stations for every half-kilometre gap.
Average speed of these articulated buses could be 28-30 kmph and for most of the alignment, the EBRTS would be built alongside the flyovers. It will also be connecting metro rail Corridor 1 (Miyapur-L.B. Nagar) at KPHB, Corridor 3 (Nagole-HiTec City/Raidurg) at MindSpace junction and planned Airport metro line at Narsingi.
HAML MD N.V.S. Reddy said it would take about three months to finalise the DPR, following which technical and financial bids would be called for constructing the project in Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode.
Time-frame
The plan is that it could take up to about six months to finalise the bids and complete the entire work in three years since no land acquisition is required.
