Odisha to introduce BRTS in five municipal corporations

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Jun 15:

Odisha government’s Urban development department is all set to implement the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) in five municipal corporations in the state, including the capital city.

As per the detailed project report (DPR) prepared by the department, work on BRTS in the Temple City would commence next year and buses will likely ply on the roads under this system by 2018. The department has decided to replicate the model in four other municipal corporations in due course, sources said.

The BRTS will be implemented in Cuttack, Brahmapur, Rourkela and Sambalpur in view of the increasing traffic and the weak public transport system in these cities.

“We have initiated the preliminary work on the implementation of BRTS in these municipal corporations,” Urban Development Minister Pushpendra Singhdeo said.

Earlier, the state government had asked Ahmedabad-based Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT) to prepare the detailed project report (DPR) on BRTS, which was submitted to the Urban development department and approved by the state government.

Under BRTS, two dedicated bus corridors would be constructed on which air-conditioned buses would ply on tracks.  The two routes are: Biju Patnaik International Airport to Nandankanan Zoological Park and Kalpana Square to Mancheswar. In the first phase, 30.32 km of road along the corridor would the constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 460 crore. The corridors would cover Sishu Bhawan Square, Vani Vihar, Acharya Vihar, Sainik School, Nalco Square and KiiT square.

For proper implementation of the scheme, Urban Development Minister Pushpendra Singhdeo and Bhubaneswar Mayor Anant Narayan Jena had participated in an international seminar in Rome recently.

The system will be implemented here on the lines of BRTS in Italy with the capacity of the public transport system to be doubled by 2025. This system has been envisaged to make the majority of the commuters opt for public transport system.

Similarly, the seminar also discussed on Biju Gaon Gadi Yojna implemented in Odisha.

Harpreet Kaur Dhillon from New Delhi-based Urban Mass Transit Co Ltd made a power point presentation on this and was appreciated by the delegates from across the world. While buses will be plying on 1180 routes, buses will be introduced on 853 routes in the first phase. As of now, buses have been introduced on 128 routes.