Twelve companies have been pre-qualified for the Ludhiana bus terminal project and have been issued the request for proposal (RFP) document.
Of the 12, seven pre-qualified firms attended the pre-proposal conference, organised by the transport department and the Punjab Industrial Development Board (PIDB) on March 12, to seek clarifications on request for proposal documents. The state government plans to award contract by April.
Among the companies that attended the pre-proposal conference were Mahindra Infrastructure Developers (Mumbai), Ramky Engineers (Hyderabad), MSK Projects Ltd (Baroda), RITES (Delhi), SAB Industries (Chandigarh), Bhullar Constructions (Chandigarh) and Tantia Construction Company Ltd (Kolkata).
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The state government had invited participation of the private sector in the upgradation, management, operation and maintenance of the Ludhiana bus terminal few months back.
The Punjab Industrial Development Board (PIDB) has entered into a project development partnership with Infrastructure Leasing and Finance Services (IL&FS) and Infrastructure Development Corporation for the project.
According to the plan, the private firm will make investment in the upgradation of the bus terminal.
It will be allowed to collect service charge from buses at rates notified by the state government.
The private company will have to pay an annual concession fee to the state government during the period of contract.
The private company will be provided adequate flexibility within the development control rules to exploit the commercial space in the terminal.
After the upgradation, the bus terminal would have adequate capacity to cater to passenger and bus traffic up to 2015. The partner company would also provide basic amenities at the terminal, said Vinni Mahajan, managing director of PIDB.
The state government planned to replicate the concept to other infrastructure sectors also, she said.
The bus terminal project was in synergy with the strategy proposed by Union Finance Minister Jaswant Singh for development of infrastructure through the public-private partnership, Mahajan added.