Tamil Nadu: KfW-funded electric bus plan reaches final stages

CHENNAI: The KfW-funded initiative to modernise public transport in Tamil Nadu entered the next stage, with two firms submitting bids for supply and operation of 500 electric low-floor buses, including 340 AC buses.

The bids by JBM Electric Vehicles Pvt Ltd and Switch Mobility Automotive Ltd were admitted for technical evaluation on May 16, and the financial bids are expected to be opened thereafter. The project is part of the German development bank’s Climate Friendly Modernisation Programme, and follows a comprehensive design–build–operate model.

The tender, floated by the Institute of Road Transport (IRT), covers bus deployment in Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai, along with depot upgrades and charging infrastructure.

Out of the 500 low-floor electric buses, the Metropolitan Transport Corporation would get 320 AC buses while TNSTC Madurai would get 100 non-AC electric buses. TNSTC Coimbatore would get 80 buses, including 20 AC buses.

The tender includes a clause permitting the government to increase the quantity by up to 25%, potentially raising the total to 625 buses, depending on operational and financial considerations.

The KfW-funded project differs from the World Bank-supported tender issued earlier this year by the MTC under the Chennai Sustainable Urban Services Programme (C-SUSP). That project is being implemented in two phases under the Gross Cost Contract (GCC) model.

In Phase 1, MTC awarded a contract to OHM Mobility, a subsidiary of Ashok Leyland, for 625 electric buses, and its launch is likely to happen in the first week of June. The second phase, currently in the bidding stage, involves the procurement of 600 additional buses (400 AC and 200 non-AC), funded by the World Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Like the KfW tender, this contract also allows for scaling up the quantity by 25%, taking the potential total to 750 buses under this phase alone.

Under the GCC model, the buses would be owned by the company, which would also supply drivers for its operation and take care of maintenance and charging infrastructure, and it would be paid on a per-kilometre basis.

In the KfW tender, the buses would be procured by the transport corporations. The contractor would be paid the lump sum for the depot improvement works at Ayanavaram, Adyar and Tambaram in Chennai; Sungam and Ondipudur in Coimbatore; and Ponmeni and Thirumangalam in Madurai.

For the operation and maintenance, including the supply of drivers, the contractor would be paid a rate per km for AC and non-AC buses separately.