Outsourcing bus-building saves time, cost: BMTC

A day after the transport corporation workers union opposed the BMTC’s move to outsource the building of the body for 643 non-AC buses, the bus corporation defended its decision saying it would save time and cost.

Officials responded to claims by the KSRTC Staff and Workers Federation that buying fully built buses would be a waste of money.

The federation said the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) must give the order to build bus bodies to the KSRTC workshop to save money in the form of GST and time.

In a detailed message, BMTC Managing Director C Shikha said getting a homologation (approval) certificate from the KSRTC was time-consuming.

“For the construction of the body for 643 buses, more than a year is required by two KSRTC workshops. But an outside agency will complete the job in three months,” it said.

The message also noted that deploying the buses in four months will generate additional revenue.

In 2003-04, quality issues were raised about the body of 50 buses built at KSRTC that were rejected, while several months were taken to rectify the defects.

The labour cost at the KSRTC workshop is Rs 275 per hour with 109% labour overhead without GST exemption. Though the workshops were fully operational in 2016-17, 2018-19 and 2019-20, the KSRTC procured 2,698 fully built buses and got the bus body made from outside builders, the BMTC said.

The corporation said 1,268 buses were to be scrapped in 2019-20 and the induction of the 643 buses will help the process of replacing the old vehicles.