BackFour firms bid for India’s first pod taxi project in Gurgaon
Nitin Gadkari says the government plans to invest around `4,000 crore in the pod taxi project
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New Delhi: The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has received bids from four companies to develop India’s first pod taxi project in Gurgaon, Haryana.
Pod taxi is a public transit system for cities in which pods are suspended from an overhead rail. Each pod can carry up to five passengers. The ropeway-like system runs on electricity and driverless pods move at an elevation of 5 to 10 metre above the ground and goes up and comes down at designated stations.
The average speed of the pods is 60 km per hour and can be used by individual or for small group and the fare is likely to be similar to that of Delhi metro.
The four firms include two foreign and two Indian companies, said a senior NHAI official on Tuesday. While Metrino PRT and Sky Dran are the foreign bidders, the Indian bidders are Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited and Neel Metal Products Limited.
“We are still scrutinising the technical bids after which the financial bids would be opened," the official said on condition of anonymity.
The project was approved by the Cabinet in March.
The first phase will include a pilot project covering 13-km stretch from Gurgaon-Delhi border to Badshapur Mod with 16 stations. The ministry of transport has earmarked Rs850 crore for the pilot project.
The stations covered in the first phase are Ambience Mall, Cyber City, Jwala Mill Chowk, Atlas Chowk, near Heritage City, Iffco Chowk, Iffco Chowk near Crown plaza, near Signature Tower, Jharsa Road , Jharsa Road towards Ch Bakhtawar Singh Road , Near Rajiv Chowk, near Tau Devi Lal Stadium, near Islampur Village , near Sadar police station , near Central Park , near Casabella Garde, near Dr Amebdkar Bhawan at Badshahpur Chowk.
Transport minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said the capital cost of the pod taxi project is Rs50 crore per km, while for the metro it is Rs250 crore per km. He said the government plans to invest around Rs4,000 crore in the pod taxi project and the work on the project would begin in two months.
He said once the pilot project is completed, the first phase would cover a 70-km stretch from Dhaula Kuan in Delhi to Manesar in Gurgaon.
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