Hyderabad: Foundation stone for Asia's biggest bus terminal to be set this month

Hyderabad: With land disputes having been cleared, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) is going ahead with its Inter City Bus Terminal at Miyapur. Municipal administration and urban development (MAUD) minister K.T. Rama rao is likely to set the foundation stone for the mega project later this month.

This project, with an estimated budget of Rs 100 crore, is coming up on 55 acres of HMDA land in Miyapur. There were disputes over land ownership, but the metropolitan body got a big relief with the Supreme Court giving a judgment in its favour recently. To be built at an estimated cost of Rs 100 crore, the bus terminal – fashioned as Asia's biggest -- will have world-class infrastructure and provide one-stop facilities to passengers, the public and private bus operators under one roof. At present, the city has bus terminals at Imliban, the Jubilee Bus Station in Secunderabad and at Dilsukhnagar.

The ICBT will come up in the PPP mode with the private developer earning revenue by charging bus operators for the services as also for the amenities provided to passengers.

The HMDA will hand over the project to the private agency on a 33-year lease. The authority will get an annual lease rental from the private developer during the 33-year lease period.