BRTS for Vijayawada mooted

Desaraju Surya

Hyderabad: By next year, public transport in Vijayawada will transform. The Rs 152.64 crore Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) project for the city, under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) aims to do just that. Vijayawada becomes the fourth city in the country after Indore, Pune and Ahmedabad and the first in south India to get the project that aims at improving the public transport system. BRTS, an environment-friendly and cost-effective public transport system, is an alternative between ‘unreliable’ conventional bus transport and the high-cost metro rail. Usually, it is also referred to as the ‘surface metro’ system that has a dedicated rightof-way on prime roads enabling high operating speeds. In Vijayawada, BRTS will be introduced on a pilot basis along a 15.5-km ‘Green Corridor’; from the police control room to the railway station, Satyanarayanapuram, Eluru Road, Ring Road, Benz Circle, Mahatma Gandhi Road and back to PCR. Of the Rs 152.64 crore, 50 per cent will be sanctioned by the Centre and the state government will allocate 20 per cent. The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation has to bear the remaining cost, sources in MAUD said. Work on the project is expected to start in two months, they added. The VMC plans to introduce BRTS buses, each costing Rs 40 lakh, in the next six months, sources said. The state government has approved the proposal to form the Vijayawada Metropolitan Transport Authority for operating the BRTS. The state capital too will have a Hyderabad Metropolitan Transport Authority for taking up the BRTS project, MAUD sources said. “We are in the process of preparing the DPR for BRTS in Hyderabad. Once it is ready, it will be submitted to the Central Sanctioning Committee of JNNURM for approval. The HMTA will take shape once the project is cleared,” a top MAUD official said. For now, Hyderabad, will have to wait as the Detailed Project Report (DPR) is not yet ready, sources in the municipal administration and urban development department said.