In an attempt to link the major districts of Jharkhand with a few main cities, the mega project, Inter State Bus Terminus, proposed way back, will soon see the light of the day. Taking inspiration from one of the most well planned Inter State Bus Terminus model of the country established in Gujarat, the State Government here has begun the exercise of constructing the first Inter State Bus Terminus with all state-of-the-art facilities.
According to the officials of Department of Urban Development, Housing and Planning, the task of identification of land in two cities has been accomplished while the respective department is gearing up to rope in a suitable bidder for the construction of this much awaited project.
“The process of identification of the land at the State Capital including Dhanbad district has been completed. The department is in the process of floating the tender soon. If all goes well, the construction work is expected to initiate from December 2018 end,” said Special Secretary, Department of Urban Development, Housing and Planning BPL Das.
As per Das, attempts are being made to develop the Inter State Bus Terminus on the model of airport like bus terminus inaugurated in Vadodara, Gujarat in 2014. Interestingly, the first modern ‘Bus Port’ of the country has electronic scrolling system, deluxe waiting room, separate entry and exit, especially designed infrastructure for differently-abled persons including hi-tech ticket counters to name a few.
Targeting the Capital City considering the population and other factors first, the construction of Inter State Bus Terminus will be initiated from Ranchi. “The Inter State Bus Terminus will come up at Ranchi, Dhanbad and Jamshedpur in the first phase. The Detailed Project Report (DPR) under the supervision of experts is getting prepared focusing on uniform urban expansion and keeping the public facilities on priority,” Das further stated.
Furthermore, the Special Secretary mentioned that the officials of top companies are being consulted while drafting the DPR. “The department is in talk with the firms who already have experience in operation and maintenance of big Infrastructural projects like Inter State Bus Terminus. After the workshop which was conducted a month back, the companies have started approaching us with their new innovative concepts. The project will work on Public Private Partnership (PPP) model here,” stated Das.
Notably, the concerned Department has decided to revamp the bus stations located at present in 10 cities on the PPP mode. Under the plan private companies would be roped in to develop all existing bus stands located at Dhanbad, Mango (East Singhbhum), Chaibasa (West Singhbhum), Giridih, Phusro (Bokaro), Medininagar (Palamu), Dumka, Godda, Simdega and Gumla along with three inter-state bus terminuses at Ranchi, Dhanbad and Deoghar.
During the recent investors meet, Secretary, Department of Urban Development, Housing and Planning, Ajoy Kumar Singh had stated that if required the existing policy that failed to persuade the companies engaged in transport business and services will be rectified as per the demand of competent bidders. A few private parties during the summit indicated towards higher circle rate the developer needs to pay before developing the existing facilities.