Vizag, Vijayawada BRTS snippets

In a major boost to the BRTS project, the Andhra government has cleared the proposals for setting up special purpose vehicles (SPVs) to implement the bus rapid transport system (BRTS) in Vijayawada and Vizag. Separate transport companies will be set up to monitor and implement the BRTS corridors in both the cities. While the SPV for Vijayawada will be called as Vijayawada Urban Transport Company Limited, the same in Visakhapatnam has been named as Visakhapatnam Urban Transport Company Ltd. The state-owned Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) will have a shareholding of 51 per cent, while respective municipal corporations will have 25 per cent and the urban development authorities hold the remaining 24 per cent stake in the new companies. Though the civic bodies have lesser share, the municipal commissioners will act as chairpersons of the urban transport companies. The executive directors of the RTC from the respective zones have been named as managing directors. The district collector, the vice-chairmen of the urban development authorities, the RTC regional manager, deputy commissioner of transport and city police commissioners would be on the board of management as directors. Both the companies will be incorporated with an authorised (initial) share capital of Rs 2.5 crore. Government sources said the SPVs would help by way of planning, designing, financing, developing, constructing, maintaining, marketing, operating and enabling BRTS run on the proposed corridors. The companies would also provide and facilitate provision of multi-modal transportation services, including owning, licensing and operating bus routes, passenger and other modes of transport. While the Centre is funding the BRTS projects through the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme, the state government has asked the municipal commissioners of VMC and GVMC to file applications with the registrar of companies for registration of companies. Sources said that BRTS is expected to hit the roads by March next year. The BRTS has been planned keeping in view of the massive traffic congestions in the cities, an official said. Proposed routes The BRTS project will be taken up on a 15.5 kms corridor at a cost of Rs 152.64 crore in Vijayawada. It will be laid from Police Control Room to IGMC Street via railway station-C K Reddy road-Satyanarayanapuram railway track road- Machavaram down-Ramavarappadu junction-Health University and Benz Circle. In Visakhpatnam, two separate corridors are planned costing Rs 452.93 crore. While corridor-1 will be laid from Pendurthi transit corridor to Dwarakanagar via NAD junction covering a distance of 22.6 kms, corridor-2 would run between Simhachalam transit corridor (STC) and Dwarakanagar covering a distance of 20.5 kms.