The State Government on Wednesday decided to implement urban transport service in five urban clusters under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewable Mission (JNURM) at an estimated cost of Rs 157.41 crore. The initiative is likely to be operational by January next.
The proposed transport service would be implemented in PPP mode by forming Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) in Cuttack-Choudwar, Rourkela-Biramitrapur and Rajgangpur, Baleswar-Bhadrakh, Bolangir-Patnagarah and Jeypur-Koraput and Sunabeda clusters, said Urban Development Minister Debi Prasad Mishra.
Stating that the decision was taken at the first meeting of the State-level Steering Committee on Urban Transport held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, the Urban Development Minister said that for better urban mobility and transport, it was decided to form SPVs for each cluster of towns. He said that as many as 309 buses would move in 41 routes spread over the five urban clusters.
As per the funding pattern under the scheme, while the Union Government would provide 80 per cent of the total project cost, including purchase of buses and creation of ancillary infrastructure, the State Government and the concerned urban administrations would bear rest 20 per cent of the requirement.
Of the total project cost of Rs 157.41 crore, the Centre would provide Rs 71.07 crore, while the State Government would give Rs 39.90 crore towards the bus cost and infrastructure.
According to official sources, highest 100 number of buses will run in Cuttack-Choudwar in ten routes at an estimated cost of Rs 49.69 crore, while 80 buses would be introduced in nine routes of Rourkela-Biramitrapur and Rajgangpur cluster at an estimate cost of Rs 43.51 crore. Similarly, for Baleswar- Bhadrakh urban cluster, the project cost is Rs 30.32 crore. Total 54 buses would be launched in ten routes, while 40 buses would ply in Jeypur-Koraput and Sunabeda urban cluster in seven routes. There would be five routes in Bolangir -Patnagarah cluster, where 35 buses would move at an estimated cost of Rs15.82 crore.
In the first phase of urban transport service under the JnNURM , the Central Government had sanctioned 125 buses with a grant of Rs 10.51 crore. The first city bus service was launched in Bhubaneswar on October 10, 2010, which was extended from Bhubaneswar to Cuttack, Puri and Khurda. In the second phase, the State Government would extend the urban transport service to other towns of the State, Mishra said.
Mishra said that besides the urban transport scheme under the JnNRUM, the State Government had decided to introduce modern city transport service with its own funding in Cuttack, Brahmapur , Bhubaneswar and other western Odisha towns. For the Bhubaneswar region transport corridor, he said a Detailed Project Report is under process and would be finalized soon for implementation.