Nagpur: After a persistent delay of months, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) is poised to receive 10 electric buses from PMI Electro Mobility Options, an electric bus manufacturer based in Haryana, this week, local media reports said.
According to reports, the company, as per the agreement, was obligated to deliver 44 buses by October of the previous year but fell short and provided only 10 buses. Even with the forthcoming delivery of an additional 10 buses, the total count will only reach 20, still a significant deficit from the agreed-upon 144. The persistent delay in electric bus deliveries raises worry about the broader implications for Nagpur’s plans to transition to sustainable and efficient public transportation.
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Tuesday 17 Dec. 2024
The reports quoted Suresh Bagle, Deputy Municipal Commissioner as saying that the NMC received communication from the company that 10 electric buses commenced their journey to Nagpur on Sunday from the Gurugram plant near Delhi. The buses’ location remained untraceable on Monday, and clarity is expected only on Tuesday. NMC anticipates the buses will reach the city later this week. Bagle also announced his intention to issue a notice to PMI Electro Mobility Options for the recovery of fines specified in the contract. The contract stipulates a penalty of Rs 12,000 per day for the company if they miss the deadline for delivering the air-conditioned electric buses.
The agreement empowers NMC officials to collect this penalty of 0.1 percent of the bank guarantee of Rs 12 crore, for each day of delay. In 2022, NMC inked a contract mandating the delivery of 144 air-conditioned electric buses, for which Rs 72 crore was allocated under the 15th Finance Commission. Beyond the bus delivery, PMI is committed to constructing a mother charging station in Wathoda, a project currently in its final phase. To date, the company has only delivered 10 air-conditioned electric buses to the NMC, which have already been integrated into the Aapli bus fleet, comprising a total of 450 buses, including 96 electric buses, operating on 191 routes.
According to the agreement, PMI was expected to deliver 14 buses in August, followed by 10 in September. Subsequent phases included the delivery of 20 buses in October, 30 in November, and the final tranche of 60 buses in December of the previous year. The Aapli Bus service, operating on 191 routes, sees an average daily ridership of around 1.45 lakh passengers, with a per-day average income from operations of approximately Rs 25 lakh on weekdays.
