Khattar lays foundation stone for two bus depots in Gurgaon

According to officials, the bus depots will come up on plots measuring around 4.28 acres and will include a shed, office complex, repair and maintenance workshop and a washing platform.

Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday laid the foundation stone for two bus depots to come up in Sector 10 and Sector 52-53. The structures, once completed, will house 200 buses of the city bus service, which is expected be launched on August 15.

The bus depots will come up in Sector 10 and Sector 52-53. (HT Photo)

On September 27, 2017, the urban local bodies (ULB) had allotted Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) ‘administrative approval’ for the construction of bus depots in Sector 10 at an estimated cost of Rs13.76 crore and in Sector 52-53 at an estimated cost of Rs 10.16 crore.

According to officials, the bus depots will come up on plots measuring around 4.28 acres and will include a shed, office complex, repair and maintenance workshop and a washing platform.

“A total of 200 buses will be launched in the first phase of the city bus service and the two bus depots are equipped to accommodate all of them. The Sector 10 bus depot can accommodate 125 buses and Sector 52-53 facility can house 75 buses,” GMDA CEO V Umashankar said.

The 200 non-AC buses will be launched by the GMDA in the first phase of the bus service, with 300 buses expected to be added by next year. Nearly 200 buses in the second phase will be air-conditioned.

A depot being built at a cost of Rs 11.48 crore in Sector 72 is also expected to be ready by this year.

Overall, five bus depots will be constructed under the city bus service and a depot in Sector 48 is also in the process of being ready, officials said.

On January 31, Khattar, who chaired the GMDA’s first meeting, said 200 buses will be introduced on August 15 and these buses will be non air-conditioned.

The CM said the bus service would go a long way in resolving commuting woes in Gurgaon.

Initially, the project was slotted for a March-end launch but was delayed as the concessionaires for the project were yet to be finalised and obtaining regulatory parameters from the ministry of road transport and highways also took time. The parameters are needed in order to get the buses tested and cleared for service by a testing agency.

Another hindrance to the project was that low-floor CNG buses, the kind that is operational in Delhi, are manufactured to order and are not mass produced.

The four concessionaires for the project — TATA, Volvo, Ashok Leyland and JBM — were selected in November 2017.

Three lakh people are expected to use the service once the bus service is operational in the city.