Visakhapatnam: It’s been more than three years that the GVMC had missed the actual schedule to bring in the two proposed corridors of Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) into operation.
The civic body has recently missed another deadline, June, it set to complete the works on the much delayed and hyped BRTS project. As per original schedule, BRTS was supposed to come into operation in January 2011. The delay is attributed to the land acquisition from defence, railways and more than 2000 private persons.
In some cases many private persons have approached various courts asking direction on exempting their properties.
GVMC has taken up BRTS the two corridors- Pendurthy and Simhachalam over a stretch of 43.36km under Union government-sponsored Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission at a cost of Rs 454.73 crore to ease the traffic woes and provide intelligent transport with dedicated lanes for the movement of RTC buses. The foundation for BRTS was laid in February 2009.
A special purpose vehicle (SPV), Visakhapatnam Urban Transport Company (VUTCO), has also been formed to handle the BRTS. While district collector is the chairman of VUTCO, the GVMC commissioner is the CEO with representatives from RTC, police department, Vuda, and RTA as directors.
“We are now confident that the works on the BRTS will be completed within two months. There are issues related to land acquisition pending since long and we have been trying to resolve each and every of them one after the other. There are many court cases also. By June works related to except two kms on Simhachalam corridor, has been completed. We are resolved to solve the 2kms issue also in two months and complete the works,” said GVMC commissioner Pravin Kumar.
Meanwhile, the incomplete BRTS corridors at certain stretches, notably between Maddilapalem and RTC complex via Rama Talkies junction, have turned out to be a nightmare to the commuters with confusion reigning. Since the dedicated corridor is yet to be officially opened for buses, other vehicles are also seen moving leading to frequent accidents.
