SHILLONG: The public transport system in the capital Shillong is set to get another boost as the State Government is hoping to roll out another 240 buses within six months.
Urban Affairs principal Secretary P Naik said that the order has been placed for procurement of the buses and depending on the funds from the Union Government, the State Government plans to roll out the buses.
The buses were sanctioned by the Centre under JNNURM following persistent demand from the Meghalaya Government and the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) set up by the State Government has already called for tenders and several parties have expressed interest in operating the buses.
“We have received some bids and we will finalize it soon,” Naik said
Acceding to persistent demands from the Meghalaya Government, the Centre had, last year, approved another fleet of 240 buses for the State following a meeting of the Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee on bus funding and ancillary infrastructure projects under the JNNURM.
The State had placed the request for sanction of more buses for Greater Shillong Area to run the services on new routes as well as to augment the number of buses on existing routes.
It is expected that the buses would help in improving the public transport of the city and many areas which are not covered as of now would also be covered with the new fleet of buses.
Reacting to a query about the deplorable condition of many buses which are lying unused in city, he said that there are 25 such buses and department would repair it very soon.