BENGALURU: The state government has shelved the much-hyped Personal Rapid Transit System (PRTS) — ‘pod taxis’ — to allow the controversial elevated corridor in the city, which has been opposed by citizen groups.
Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) had finalised the bidder and sent it to the state government for approval after the project was cleared by the BBMP Council. Now, urban development department has informed BBMP that the pod taxi proposal will have to be shelved as the elevated corridor and Metro reach will be coming up along stretches identified for the pod taxi.
The BBMP had called for the tender in December 2017, to which the sole bidder was a consortium comprising Smart Personal Rapid Transit Systems Pvt. Ltd, Ultra PRT Ltd, and Embassy Property Developments Pvt Ltd. It had bid on January 10, 2018, the last date for bidding.
The project was supposed to be taken up under Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Transfer for which the bidder had quoted revenue sharing of Rs 6.5 crore to BBMP for project implementation. The project hit a controversy after Embassy Property Developments Ltd, an Embassy Group company in which former minister
K J George, who proposed the project, holds a stake, bid for the project.The elevated corridor project is much debated with citizen groups opposing it, citing mass tree cutting and failure to consult the public before taking up a project worth Rs 33,000 crore.