FSCM bus service to miss its launch deadline

FARIDABAD: The city’s dedicated bus service, proposed to launch under the Faridabad Smart City Mission, is likely to miss its proposed deadline of January 2020. The delay was due to lack of bidders for the project caused by the central government’s revision of vehicular emission standards, it will take almost six more months for the project to become operational.

Monika Agarwal, Deputy CEO, FSCM said, “Our original detailed project report (DPR), which proposed a budget of Rs 464 crore for a fleet of 595 buses, was drawn up in compliance with 2017’s Bharat Stage-4 fuel standards.” However, due to the central government’s sudden revision of vehicular emission standards from BS-IV to BS-VI, a majority of vehicle manufacturers have not yet started production of buses which are compliant with BS-VI norms, added Monica. After April 2020, BS-IV compliant vehicles will no longer be allowed for sale, or to be registered.

Agarwal further stated that due to the revision of emission standards, the DPR of the project would have to be reframed and the budget of the project will also be increased in order to make it compliant with BS-VI norms. Thus, it will take a minimum of six months for the formulation of the new DPR, the updated budget and for the buses to be manufactured and delivered on order.