The State Government on Saturday awarded contract to Hyderabad-based Balaji Rail Road Systems limited (BRSYl) for preparation of a detailed project report (DPR) for rail-based Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) between the twin city of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.
Housing and Urban Development Department Special Secretary Sisir Ratho and BARSYl Chief Operating Officer Manoranjan Prasad signed the MoU for the Centrally-sponsored project in the presence of Housing and Urban Development Minister Pushpendra Singh Deo.
The DPR would be completed within a timeframe of next 10 months. It would take at least five years to commission the rail-based MRTS.
BARSYl has been selected through a competitive bidding to prepare the DPR with a consultancy fee of Rs2.52 crore for an approximate distance of 30 km between the twin cities. The H&UD Department is the nodal agency for getting the study done on the MRTS .The project financing structure is 50 per cent by the Government of India under the scheme of Urban Transport Planning while the rest 50 per cent would be borne by the State Government.
The Union Government is encouraging cities with more than two million population to plan and implement high-capacity and high-speed metro rail systems to provide safe, affordable, quick, comfortable, reliable and sustainable mode of public transport with focus on moving people, not vehicles.
Minister Singh Deo said the MRTS between Bhubaneswar and Cuttack would facilitate faster and seamless mobility between the twin cities. The MRTS between the twin cities and other surrounding urban centres like Khordha and Jatni is imperative as the Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Corridor is witnessing huge infrastructure development and the State Government in the Vision-2030 document is looking for these two cities to play a compact urban area as to a world-class urban complex.
Besides, Singh Deo informed that an integrated Comprehensive Mobility Plan is being prepared covering Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Puri and Konark to support the required level of social and economic activity.
Housing and Urban Development Secretary G Mathivathan said the assignment to the BARSYl would cover two aspects, traffic demand assessment and system selection. The company would also carry out traffic surveys, interviews with potential transit users to determine their origin, destination, conduct reconnasaince survey, analyse future land use and transportation in the corridor, examine merits and demerits of various mass transit facilities and recommend suitable system.
As part of the DPR, civil works alignment, track structure, stations, train operation plan, traction system and power supply, signalling, rolling stock, communication system, maintenance facilities, environment impact assessment, cost estimate, economic and financial analysis and recommendations on implementation strategy, institutional arrangement and implementation schedule would be done, said the H&UD Secretary.