Electric bus project in Puducherry delayed due to hurdles in fixing rent for charging stations
The Hindu
Electric bus project in Puducherry delayed due to hurdles in fixing rent for charging stations
The operation of electric buses in Puducherry is likely to be delayed due to hurdles in fixing the rent for the site identified for the establishment of necessary infrastructure, including charging points.
In July last year, the Puducherry government had placed the order with a private firm for the procurement, operation, and maintenance of 25 electric buses equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, including a real-time tracking system.
The government sanctioned ₹23 crore as the initial seed funding under the Smart City project in the first phase for the procurement of the buses, which will ply on 15 tentative routes within urban areas. The buses are to be operated under a viability gap funding model.
As per the contract signed between the Puducherry Transport Department and the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), the latter has to set up charging stations and other allied infrastructure with annual fleet-level guaranteed operations of 200 km per day per bus, for a period of 12 years. The operator is to foot the electricity cost and all maintenance costs of the buses.
The Puducherry Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) or Puducherry Urban Transport Agency (PUTA) will be responsible for the fare collection and passenger tax on tickets, while all other permissions and clearances, including registration, insurance, stage carrier permit, Motor Vehicle Tax, and GST on kilometre charges will be borne by the operator.
While the first batch of electric buses is expected to arrive this month, the infrastructure is not yet ready to start seamless operations due to hurdles in fixing the rent.
According to the sources, the transport department had identified a half-acre site within the sprawling premises of the State Express Transport Corporation (SETC) bus depot on Maraimalai Adigal Salai for the establishment of the charging points and other infrastructure.
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