Electric bus project for Gurugram and Faridabad to be delayed

The residents of Gurugram and Faridabad will have to wait for more time to travel in air-conditioned electric buses for mass transport as the tender allotted to the firm for supplying 100 of these buses have been scrapped, Haryana transport department officials said on Monday.

Officials said the decision was taken by the state government after it came to light that the financial condition of the firm, which was finalised for supplying 50 e-buses each to Gurugram and Faridabad, was weak and it did not have any prior experience of supplying buses to any transport authority in the country.

As per transport officials, the state government has written to the department of heavy Industries in the Union government to float a fresh tender.

The joint state transport controller of the Haryana transport department, SP Parmar said, “The Central government’s Convergence Energy Services Limited (CESL) will be responsible for floating the tender and finalising the firm which will supply 50 buses each for Gurugram Metropolitan City Bus Limited (GMCBL) and Faridabad Metropolitan Development Authority (FMDA)”.Parmar said a high-powered committee of the state government had raised objections as the firm that was finalised by the CESL was in poor financial health with no prior expertise in the field.“We expect to get an update from the CESL on the retendering issue very soon,” Parmar said.

“In all probability, the e-buses for Gurugram and Faridabad will take 10-12 months to arrive. These buses will be of nine-metre length and will be able to run for more than 200kms after a full charging of four hours in normal condition. In fast charging mode, they will get charged up to 80% in 45 minutes,” Parmar added.

Officials said both GMCBL and FMDA had written to the state transport department last year for getting these buses after which a joint tender was floated for procuring 450 buses for nine cities — Panchkula, Ambala, Yamunanagar, Karnal, Panipat, Sonipat, Rohtak, Hisar, Rewari and — 100 buses for Gurugram and Faridabad.They said out of the 450 meant for the nine cities, supply of 375 e-buses of 12-metre length is expected to begin from August-end or the first week of September this year and will be completed by March 2024. The work order for supplying these buses was given to the selected firm on May 5, they said.

However, CESL will float a new tender for the remaining 75 e-buses for the nine cities along with the 100 e-buses meant for both Gurugram and Faridabad, officials added.

As per the transport department, the 175 e-buses will be of 9-metre length and will cost around 95 lakh each in comparison to the bigger (12-metre) buses which cost at least 1.10 crore each.

Officials said the selected firm that will supply the buses will have to set up the charging stations, hire drivers, ensure maintenance and pay energy bills, while the government will provide them civil infrastructure that will include an 11kV feeder line that will supply power to the charging stations. The GMCBL’s Sector 10A depot has been already earmarked as a charging station for the e-buses, they added.

Incidentally, GMCBL almost finalised the procurement of 100 CNG buses last year and had plans to run them on the narrow sector roads and bylanes as feeder service. However, the project was scrapped after the Haryana government pitched in for e-buses for which the Central government was providing almost 40% discount under its FAME-II scheme. The scheme encourages faster adoption of electric and hybrid vehicles.Officials said GMCBL has a fleet of 200 non-AC and eight AC buses, adding that 50 of the non-AC buses are plying in Faridabad since August 2021.