NEW DELHI: The C After two tenders, three budgetary provisions, and four years of wait, the New Delhi Municipal Council has scrapped its ambitious e-scooter project because it failed to find any takers. According to the officials, the NDMC had invited bids to collaborate with the private players and introduce electric scooters to the general public as a pay-per-use plan.
However, the Covid-19 pandemic and growing accessibility of such smart bikes which run on the same pay-per-use model did not allow the central civic body to take off with their plan.The project included designing, building, and operating the public e-scooter sharing system in its areas by a concessionaire.
Officials said that the project was to introduce a fleet of 100 e-scooters initially based on Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. UBER was coming on board until Covid-19 struck the capital city.“The first time, a budgetary provision for the project was made in the financial year 2018-19. The first tender for it was floated in March 2020. However, the lockdown and other issues forced the civic body to withdraw the tender,” a senior official in the know of the development said.
“The project was included again in the budget of 2021-22. Another tender was floated in February this year. This time, with 1,000 e-scooters at 100 stations in two phases. But it failed to attract any bid. However, the project is still a part of the 2022-23 budget,” the senior official informed.Satish Upadhyay, Vice Chairperson of the council, confirmed that the e-scooter project could not take off.“No company showed interest in it. We have scrapped the project for now,” he said.
“However, we are committed to providing the clean and futuristic mode of transport and working diligently towards it. A concrete plan will be worked upon soon,” Upadhyay added. Meanwhile, the officials also said that the NDMC’s another project, smart cycles, has failed to prove its utility. “The project was launched in 2016 with 500 smart cycles stationed at 50 different spots. The youth showed craze initially but the enthusiasm died with time. The number of cycles in the fleet has remained stagnant since then,” another official said.