Delhi govt gives nods for procurement of 1,650 low floor buses

The Delhi Cabinet Thursday gave its nod for the procurement of 1,650 low-floor buses by the DTC and the DIMTS, with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asserting that the national capital will soon become a "role model" in public transport in the country. Giving details about the Cabinet decisions, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the Delhi government was moving ahead with the procurement of 4,000 buses that would arrive by mid-2020.

The tender for 1,000 electric buses will open in August and they will start arriving from January, he said, adding the entire batch will be on the city roads by April next year. The Delhi Cabinet has approved the procurement of 1,000 air conditioned low-floor buses by Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC), Sisodia told reporters.

"Huge expansion of public transport infrastructure in Delhi happening. Like good work done in education, health, electricity and water, Delhi will soon become a role model in public transport also," Kejriwal tweeted. The meeting chaired by Kejriwal also approved awarding concession to the successful bidders for 650 low-floor buses under the Cluster scheme run by Delhi Integrated Multi Modal Transit System (DIMTS), he said.

"The Delhi government has been preparing for procurement of new buses for the last the two years. No new buses could be procured by the DTC in the last 9-10 years. "Besides 1,000 low-floor DTC buses, process is on for procurement of another 3,000 buses which will arrive by May-June in 2020," Sisodia said.

Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said the AAP government is committed to strengthening public transport under the leadership of Kejriwal. "Congrats Delhi! Delhi govt today approved procurement of 1000 DTC low-floor buses. ALSO accepted tenders of 650 low-floor Cluster buses. All will be AC. Delivery to start from Dec 19. Under able leadership of Honble CM @ArvindKejriwal we are committed to strengthen public Tpt (sic)," Gahlot tweeted.

The 1,000 air-conditioned low-floor buses to be procured by the DTC will start rolling out from January 2020 and the entire fleet will be on the roads of the city by May that year, he said. Besides, 1,000 standard floor buses under Cluster scheme will start arriving from this month and by December, the entire fleet will be rolled out, he said.

The process for procurement of 1,000 low-floor buses under Cluster scheme is also on. The fleet of 650 buses, whose tender was cleared by the Cabinet, will start rolling out from December and the entire fleet will arrive by April 2020, Sisodia said. A tender for remaining 350 buses low floor buses under Cluster scheme will be opened this month.

Currently, there are around 5,500 public transport buses in the city including 3,900 run by the DTC and over 1,600 under Cluster scheme of DIMTS.