Amid ongoing tension on the Indo-China borders, the state government is mulling cancelling the deal to operate 700 electric buses with ‘China connect’ in 14 major cities of Uttar Pradesh, said a senior officer on condition of anonymity.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed with the PMI Electro Mobility Solutions Private Limited having collaboration with the Foton Motor Company of China early this year to operate the buses in major cities on public private partnership (PPP) model under the scheme to strengthen the urban transport in state’s major cities with a total estimated cost of about Rs 965 crore.
“We have received a request from the China’s Foton Motors to allow time of six more months to operate buses in the state in view of Covid-19 pandemic. But, we are seeking legal options on implications of cancelling the deal. A final decision on the issue will be taken at the top level,” said Deepak Kumar, principal secretary, urban development department.
Kumar though refused to elaborate further, those aware of the unfolding developments said the state government was unlikely to heed to the request for more time made by the Chinese company.
{{/usCountry}}Kumar though refused to elaborate further, those aware of the unfolding developments said the state government was unlikely to heed to the request for more time made by the Chinese company.
{{/usCountry}}Those aware with the developments said under the provisions of MoU the company was expected to invest about Rs 560 crore to provide 700 electric buses for operation in the major cities.
Also read| Border face-off: UP govt treads cautiously on Chinese investment
Cost of each bus was estimated to be about Rs 1.25 crore and the Centre under the Phase-II of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles (FAME) was expected to give Rs 45 lakh per bus.
The state government was expected to set up bus stations and charging stations to start the plying of buses in Lucknow, Varanasi, Meerut, Agra, Ghaziabad, Kanpur, Moradabad, Aligarh, Jhansi, Bareilly, Gorakhpur, Shahjahanpur, Mathura and Vrindavan.
The proposal to operate these 700 electric buses in 14 cities was approved by the state cabinet on October 1, 2019.
The operation was to start later this year after the completion of the biddings process, which was carried out in December last year. The PMI Electro Mobility Solutions Private Limited Consortium was picked to ply 700 electric buses.
PMI Electro Mobility Solutions Private Limited and Foton Motors company could not be reached for comments.