After its first failed attempt to rope in private developers for the construction Inter-State Bus Terminal (ISBT) at Dwarka, the Transport Department has come up with amended modalities in the tender process.
As no private parties came forward in the wake of relevantly "shorter lease period", it has been increased from 33 years to 60 years. Recently, the department convened a meeting with some of the private developers and it was decided that the lease period will be extended from 33 years to 60 years.
The ISBT Dwarka is supposed to be constructed on PPP model and was supposed to be completed by 2012. The project was approved in 2008. A private agency Sangcity has also been shortlisted for finalising the work, but as the lease agreement that was given by the department is 33 years, the private agency did not come forward for this project and as a result, the work for ISBT Dwarka was stopped till 2013 last week of April.
However, after the department noticed that no private players are eager to invest in the project due to low lease period, the department has finally decided to increase the lease period to 60 years. Senior officials of Delhi Transport Department, however, added that it was seen that many of the important private players turned down the project as the lease period was very less and so after discussing with the commissioner it was decided that the modalities of the lease period be changed from 33 years to 60 years in order to attract more private investors.
The project, the first-of-its-kind for the Transport Department will serve as a major transportation hub particularly for residents of West Delhi and neighbouring areas. The proposed ISBT is expected to cater to over 1.5 lakh commuters daily and the plan is to have buses from Haryana and Rajasthan to terminate here. This will reduce congestion in the city and also provide an organised system of inter-State bus movement.
The first terminal is being developed at Dwarka Sector 22, about three kilometres from the IGI Airport. Developer will be expected to create essential passenger amenities like ticket booths for different types of services, restaurants, comfortable waiting areas, cloak rooms for baggage, rest rooms and book stalls or other retail activity.
The private players have also been asked to set up multi-level parking for private cars and two-wheelers, so that people using buses to go out of the city can leave their vehicles there.