Ashok Leyland, Tata Motors and other bus makers can expect a major order from Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation in the next few weeks.
APSRTC has already prepared the Request for Proposal papers for the initial tender of about 1,500 bus chasis estimated to be worth Rs 450 crore. “We will be issuing the RFP in the next few days and subsequently tenders for financial bids will be placed. Hopefully we will finalise the tenders in the next two months and start receiving the supplies from early next fiscal,” A.K. Khan, who just demitted office as Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of the corporation, said.
Khan today handed over charge to Poornachander Rao at a simple function at the corporation’s headquarters.
In the last round of the corporation’s acquisition, Ashok Leyland and Tata Motors were the major suppliers of 1,476 buses.
However, in this round, the corporation has made a major change in acquisition – instead of buying the whole vehicle, it will now only procure the chasis and build the buses at its manufacturing facility in Hyderabad.
“We took the decision after the bad experience we had in the last round of purchases. Also, this way we can get the vehicles at least 15-20 per cent cheaper than the rates we got last time and, we believe, the life of the vehicles will also be longer,” Khan told Business Line .
The last fleet of busses delivered by Ashok Leyland and Tata Motors had suffered regular structural and mechanical snags, causing a significant dent on the corporation’s earnings. The vehicles delivered by the suppliers were not fully suitable to road conditions in Andhra Pradesh, shortening their lifespan to three years.
“By getting just the chasis and building the buses ourselves here, we believe we can extend the lifespan to seven to eight years, besides reducing the price by 15-20 per cent. Last time, we got the vehicles at an average price of Rs 23 lakh each,” he said.
Apart from this tender for 1,500 chasis, the corporation will immediately go for another round of about 1,100 chasis. “These buses will be deployed to connect smaller towns in the State,” Khan said.