Saturday, September 5, 2009

ISBT on the anvil

SHILLONG, Sept 4: Construction of an Inter-State Bus Terminus (ISBT) in the State is on the anvil. A discussion for this purpose was held on Thursday between Transport Minister I Marak and officials of Transport and Tourism departments.

Initiating the discussion advisor to the Chief Minister Anish Gandhi said the government’s plan. He said a Detailed Project Report (DPR) needs to be prepared on a Built Own Operate &Transfer (BOOT) mode, an experiment which has succeeded in Uttarakhand. Gandhi said: “Uttarakhand today has a state-of-the-art terminus which has been built by a Hyderabad-based company and the same is managing it. Uttarakhand government has not spent a single paisa on the project and it has only parted with 50 acres of land.” Gandhi also said that besides the terminus, the complex will also have cinema halls, food courts, hotel with modernized parking facilities which has been of great help to the people of the State.

The Transport Principal Secretary AK Srivastava said a Rs 50 crore DPR has already been prepared by the Department to be funded by the NEC. However, for the purpose of Private Public Partnership, a fresh DPR will have to be prepared and suitable land will have to be identified. Gandhi further suggested that a copy of the DPR of Uttarakhand may be made available so that the Transport Department can examine and prepare the same for Meghalaya which was assured by Parag Diwan.On privatization of bus service in the State, Gandhi suggested for partial privatization of Meghalaya Transport Corporation (MTC) for which further action may be taken by MTC. THE SENTINEL

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