Hubli-Dharwad set to get BRTS in 16 months

Land losers demand more compensation; acquisition delayed

BS Reporter  |  Dharwad 

February 12, 2014 Last Updated at 20:25 IST

(Picture courtesy: hbbrts.co.in)

If everything goes by the plans of the officials of Hubli-Dharwad Bus Rapid Transit System (H-D BRTS), the people commuting between Hubli and Dharwad will be able to travel by swanky buses; alight and board at ultra-modern bus stands and reach their destinations in less than 30 minutes.

HDBRTS Managing Director Noor Mansur stated that as per a survey conducted by the HDBRTS, 215,000 people travel everyday between Hubli and Dharwad. Hence, the HDBRTS is proposing to introduce 120 buses in addition to 30 articulated buses.

Each of these articulated buses have a capacity to ferry 120 passengers at a time. All the buses will be air-conditioned and high floor. The Centre has directed the respective state governments to introduce Euro-4 model buses which have low emission.

Hence, the BRTS will get Euro-4 buses, he said. At present, the time required to reach the Hubli bus stand from Dharwad is 70 minutes. However, after implementing the BRTS, the buses plying on dedicated stretches will take less than 30 minutes.

These buses will operate on off-board ticketing mode and the passengers have to take ticket at the respective bus stations before boarding the bus. Separate ticket counters will be opened in every bus stand to issue tickets on a daily basis, and smart cards for monthly and yearly passes, he added.

The bus stands will wear a modern look and have electronic display boards to inform passengers of the arrival of bus and the number of seats available in the buses to arrive. GPS is being installed in the buses.

Under the HDBRTS, 33 bus stands will come up between Jubilee Circle in Dharwad and Hubli CBT. The regular buses will halt for less than 10 seconds in each of the bus stand for the passengers to board and alight. The bus service will be operational from 5 am to midnight, he added.

Replying to a query, Noor Mansur stated that to facilitate the passengers to cross the roads, the HDBRTS will construct foot-overbridges at 15 junctions. These foot-overbridges will have lift facility and a ramp would also be made, he added.

Land acquisition

Mansur stated that 68 acres are required for the HDBRTS. Of this, 24 acre is government land and the remaining is yet to be acquired. Several rounds of meetings have been organised with stakeholders for land price fixation. However, land losers from Rayapur, Bhairidevarkopp and Sattur have not obliged and are demanding more money. The land losers of Rayapur and Amargol have settled for the 2.5 times the guidance value. Now, the final round of talks will be held between the other stakeholders to take their demand into consideration and fix the price, he added.

On the ongoing four-lane works, Mansur said, the contractor who has bagged the contract for upgrading the existing road has been set a new deadline to complete the ongoing work. The contractor has to complete this road widening work by the end of April. "Once the road widening work is completed, the HDBRTS work will commence from May," he assured.

Hubli-Dharwad BRTS Floats Fresh Tender to Buy 130 Buses

By Pramodkumar Vaidya - HUBLI

Published: 10th February 2014 09:01 AM

Following a lukewarm response to the global expression of interest (EOI) invited for procuring 130 premium quality buses for the Hubli-Dharwad Bus Rapid Transit System (HDBRTS) corridor project, the HDBRTS Company has floated fresh tenders.

In December 2013, HDBRTS had invited an EOI to procure 30 premium quality articulated and 100 premium standard length BRTS buses for the BRTS project being implemented under sustainable transport urban project of Central government.

However, barring Volvo, none showed interest.

Since buses are being acquired under the JNNURM project, only four global companies - Tata Motors, Volvo, Scania and another automobile company based in China - are matching the technical specifications.

The reason for the poor interest was attributed by HDBRTS authorities to stringent bidding conditions. However in the fresh tenders no condition was relaxed. In fact one or two new conditions were added, said HDBRTS officials.

“Earlier we had thought of finalising one of the companies that bid for the EOI. Since only one company showed interest, we decided to call a full-fledged tender rather than going through the EOI route once again”, HDBRTS managing director C M Noormansoor told Express. Noormansoor clarified that no condition was relaxed as demanded by the companies in the fresh tenders. On the contrary two other conditions such as installing intelligent transport system (ITS) applications and to comply with Urban Bus Specification-II issued by the Ministry of Urban Transport have been included, he said.

As the project is being implemented under the World Bank sponsored sustainable urban transport project, the norms laid down needed to be adhered strictly. So, a fresh tender has been floated hoping that more companies would take part in the process. Project specifications have been stated in the tender to avoid any further confusion.

Noormansoor said the technical bid of the tender would be opened on Thursday and financial bids of eligible bidders would be opened later. “We want to wind this tender process at the earliest”, he said.

Air Pegasus - 1 more airline to fly you to Hubli

1 more airline to fly you to Hubli

Saturday, January 25, 2014 - 14:00 IST | Place: Hubli | Agency: DNA

- Sangamesh Menasinakai

In a couple of months, a domestic airline will be starting a daily flight between Bangalore and Hubli. 

Bangalore-based Air Pegasus is aiming to start Bangalore-Hubli flight by March. The company’s director, Asswin, said they are planning to operate two flights between the two cities every day. He said they are looking at starting flights between Mangalore and Hubli too.

Asswin said the company is gearing up to serve commuters in tier-II and tier-III cities in South India. Besides the abovesaid cities, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Tirupati, Visakhapatnam, Kochi, Hyderabad and Chennai are on its radar. To start with, Air Pegasus will use 72-seater aircraft. By next year, it expects to acquire six wide-bodied aircraft.

Currently, Spice Jet is the only airline operating in Hubli, since September 2012. It operates two flights from Hubli—to Chennai via Bangalore, and to Delhi via Mumbai and Jabalpur.

Air Pegasus has been floated by Decor Aviation, one of the largest domestic airport ground-handling companies in the country. The company claimed its fare will be cheaper than its rivals’ due to a couple of advantages it enjoys: the task of managing the airport will be given to its parent company (Decor Aviation) and a fuel-efficient equipment. Asswin claimed that their fare will be comparable to trains’ AC fare.

He added that after a year, the company would expand its reach to Northern, Eastern and Western parts of the country. He said they are studying the possibility of connecting Delhi with cities like Hubli and Mangalore.

Hubli airport controller KM Basavaraj confirmed that Air Pegasus has approached the Airport Authority of India and that official discussions are on. He said the airline should be able to start operations in a couple of months.

New development plan for Hubli-Dharwad soon

Arunkumar Huralimath, TNN Feb 6, 2014, 05.08AM IST

HUBLI: The twin cities of Hubli and Dharwad will soon get a new City Development Plan (CDP) within a couple of months. Hyderabad-based CRISIL consulting company is preparing it under the direction of the government of India's ministry of urban development as part of the Capacity Building for Urban Development project for twin cities.

About 30 urban local bodies have been selected for this project, and Hubli-Dharwad is the only one from Karnataka to get the new CDP.

The ministry has assigned the work to CRISIL, a global analytics company providing ratings, research and risk and policy advisory services. The company has studied the twin cities' base roots and its problems since September 2013. According to its study, the draft CDP copy is ready and it'll be unveiled on February 12in Hubli and the preliminary discussions on it will be held.

Ramandeep Choudhary, commissioner, HDMC, told TOI that the discussion will be at the Kannada Bhavan, where elected representatives, various department officials, and others will take part.

A secondary discussion will be held in March and the CDP will be finalized and the company will submit the final report to the ministry, he added.

The Capacity Building for Urban Development project has been with financial assistance of the Asian Development Bank. Already underground drainage and 24x7 water projects of the ADB are under progress in the twin cities, and the new CDP is the third project for their development. After the CDP is approved, the twin cities will get better amenities, and existing problems related to road, water, traffic, and other amenities and infrastructures will be tackled, said SH Naregal, special officer, HDMC.

Preliminary discussion

On February 12, elected representatives, corporators, NGOs, BVB college SDM college and other educational institutions, pollution control board, water board, KUIDFC, Hescom, airport authorities, Karnataka housing board, PWD, HDUDA, citizens, and other line departments will take part

Grand plan

According to MOUD, capacity building activities in ULBs in states and Union Territories would be approved till March 31, 2014. The CDP of the twin cities will be submitted to the ministry before March 31, and within three years, plan will be approved by the ADB.

Earlier strategy

In 2006, Hyderabad-based Administrative Staff College of India prepared a City Development Strategy for the twin cities. HDMC submitted that report to the central government, but no action was taken.