Ktk govt draws up Rs 2919 crore tranport infrastructure boost

The Karnataka government has proposed to purchase 4,684 buses and develop transport infrastructure at an estimated cost of Rs 2,919 crore, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said today.

Officials said the move is aimed at decongesting Bangalore city traffic and improving connectivity between the various cities and suburbs.

Siddaramaiah, who launched BIG Trunk Bus Services of the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), said the Government has submitted a proposal to the Centre seeking funds to purchase 2,500 buses to Bangalore city under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

He said a total of 4,684 buses would be purchased to provide increased connectivity in various districts and towns and cities within districts. The estimated cost for purchase of buses has been put at Rs 2063 crore. A sum of Rs 856 crore would be required to construct workshops, bus-stands, bus depots and other infrastructure.

To begin with, officials said, BMTC would operate 62 Big Trunk buses on Hosur road to provide connectivity to nearly three lakh daily commuters, improving services to employees working in industrial areas such as Electronic City, Bommasandra, Attibele and Chandapura.

Minister for Tranport B Ramalinga Reddy said BIG Bus Network consisted of four types of services – Big Trunk (high frequency services along the 12 major arterial roads in Bangalore); Big Circle (high frequency circular services on the Outer Ring Road); Big City (high frequency routes serving high demand, high density corridors in the city centre) and Big Connect (high frequency connectivity between arterial roads beyond ORR).

BMTC officials said the project aims to increase local connectivity with minimum change of buses, thereby encouraging more people to use public transport.