The Andhra Pradesh Road Transport Corporation will be floating tenders within two months for the purchase of 737 buses worth about Rs 332 crore.

The corporation will be incorporating some penalty clauses that would make it mandatory for the successful bidder to pay penalty for any structural or mechanical failures that the buses encounter during their operations.

This is being done in the light of the fact that the corporation had been financially hit by structural and mechanical failures that hit many of the 1,476 buses it had purchased earlier from Ashok Leyland and Tata Motors. It had acquired these buses under the first phase of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewable Mission, with funding from the Union Government and the State Government.

“We have conveyed our dissatisfaction over these failures to the two bus makers and have given specifications for the new buses. We will still be incorporating the penalty clauses. Both the manufacturers are open to participate in the new tender,” A.K. Khan, Vice-chairman and Managing Director of the Corporation, told media persons here today.

The structural and mechanical failures encountered by the earlier fleet had increased the corporation’s operational costs and shortened the life span of the vehicles, which it now wants to avoid in the current round of acquisition. It did not have any role in the purchase last time, as it was bought by the Centre and delivered to the corporation under the JNNURM scheme.

Khan said this time around the corporation has been asked to handle the acquisition process. “We are considering the option of buying the chassis from the manufacturers and assembling them ourselves, at least for the low-end models,” he added.

For the current acquisition under JNNURM II, the Centre has agreed to share Rs 140 crore, the State Government Rs 68 crore and the remaining Rs 123 crore will be borne by the corporation. “We will raise our share through internal accruals and borrowings,” he said.

amit.mitra@thehindu.co.in

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