VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) is exploring all possibilities to invite tenders for materialising the construction works of an integrated bus terminal at Auto Nagar by the end of October.
The project is estimated to cost around Rs 80-90 crore and is aimed at facilitating the passengers besides augmenting revenue for the Corporation.
According to RTC officials, the Corporation has chalked out a plan of action to develop five integrated bus terminals across the State, in which Auto Nagar is one of the three terminals which will be developed as an integrated bus terminals in the first phase.
A Request for Proposal (RFP) for the project was prepared recently.
In the next phase, designs will be finalised after receiving the report from the consultancy and tenders will be invited by the month-end. At present, the existing bus terminal at Auto Nagar is spread over two acres and is adjacent to Mahatma Gandhi Road.
The project would be taken up under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. The company which gets the tender will execute the project that includes construction of bus stand, parking area behind the terminal, bus depot and depot manager's office.
As per plans, government and private offices, hotels, multiplexes and other commercial establishments will come up on the first floor. "Auto Nagar is a commercial area and has proper connectivity for the passengers travelling towards Machilipatnam, Gudivada, Bhimavaram and Narsapur. Keeping this in mind, higher authorities have chosen to develop the existing bus terminal as an integrated one in the first phase," a senior RTC official from the engineering department said.