The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Spanking new bus shelters on the anvil

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Friday, Jun 20, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Spanking new bus shelters on the anvil

They will be put up in the next four to five months

500 shelters to be installed at new places
Shelters to sport digital display of timings

HYDERABAD: Bus shelters which almost vanished from the city’s landscape for a long time are to appear in a brand new shape in the next few months providing more comforts to the commuter.

If GHMC’s actions are as good as its assurances, soon commuters will find bus shelters having a digital display of timings real time, comfortable seating, adequate lighting which is partly solar lit, route maps, dust bins and the likes.

“We are going to have 1,000 such bus shelters of which 500 of them will be installed at new places. Wherever there is space, there will be a kiosk,” said Additional Commissioner (Advertisements) Vani Mohan. All the bus shelters are coming up on the BOT basis under the Public-Private Partnership mode, she said.

Ms. Mohan pointed out that the civic body was not spending a single paisa on the new shelters which are worth Rs. 25 crore and was also going to get revenue out of advertisement fee. “All the new shelters would be put up in the next four to five months,” she said. Locations were chosen following a survey taking up by APSRTC, Traffic Police, besides GHMC.

Parking complexes

Despite facing numerous obstacles in building the three parking complexes that were cleared almost two years ago, the civic body is now finalising tender process for taking up construction of such complexes in five fresh sites.

These include Ameerpet (near temple), Punjagutta (vegetable market), Begum Bazar (fish market), Chikkadpally (market) and Koti (behind Feroze Gandhi Park). These were chosen out of the 10 sites identified after a survey and tender process was likely to be completed by July 15.

Existing markets would be given space in the ground floor of the proposed new complexes, she said. The official also revealed that 50 parking slots were identified wherever Government land was identified and various concepts for optimum utilisation of space was being considered. Khilwat, among the first considered parking complex place, would also soon see light of the day, she added.

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