A news report tells about NHA ( National Highway
Authority ) planning a 13 Km long pod-based Personal Rapid Transit ( PRT )
network in Gurgaon , at a cost of Rs 850 Crores , which will be Built / Owned /
Operated ( BOT ) , by a private contractor for a period of 25 years , during
which , it will recover the cost ( and , make some profit ? )
SALIENT FEATURES
:
* Pods will
carry 5 passengers who will be picked up at Docking Stations
* A group can
also " hire " an entire pod to take to desired destination ( 16 in
all )
* Pods will be
suspended from overhead rails, and run on a guide way at close intervals
* Pods are
" automated " ( just touch destination icon on a screen ? )
MY TAKE :
* Dozens of Highways
built under BOT system remain un-built or languish for want of sufficient
paying traffic , resulting in contractors having suffered huge losses and now ,
NDA government trying to salvage these . Contractors are desperately trying to
get out of their legal commitments
* With no
contractor coming forward for new projects , BOT system is nearly ditched and
Govt has decided that it will finance future road projects, on its own
* Contractors
are unable to repay to banks , Rs 40,000 Crores worth loans ( I presume , in
case of PRT as well , private contractor will need a
bank loan )
* As to the
ticket-price to be charged , a dispute has been going on ( now pending in Court
) , between Govt of Maharashtra and Reliance , in case of Mumbai Metro , for 2
years
* Trans Harbor Link project ( in Mumbai ) was tendered and scrapped twice on the question of
" Projected Traffic " and " Projected Revenue " and "
Viability Gap Funding " , delaying the project by 10 years and consequent
cost-escalation of 200 % !
* Has PRT compared
its " Ticket Price per Km "
with ,
* Private and State owned buses plying on Delhi
/ Gurgaon roads ?
* Delhi Metro ?
* Private taxis and auto-rickshaws ?
* Uber / Ola
?
* PRT can run
only on a FIXED GUIDE WAY , and to DEFINED Destinations only , whereas private taxis can take a
passenger ANYWHERE
This means , PRT cannot compete with the destination FLEXIBILITY
of taxis !
That means , its pricing / timings would need to be
better than Delhi Metro !
* Is it not
highly " probable " that , much before PRT starts ( 2 years , at
least ? ), private air-conditioned , Motorbike Taxis will arrive in Delhi ,
making PRT a " Non Starter " ?
I wonder if those bankers lending loan to PRT builder
will search for answers to the above mentioned issues in DPR
Or , as is the current practice , they will write-off
Rs 850 cr as NPA , when time comes !
I hope NDA government / RBI spend more time / effort /
energy to lay down " loan approval criteria " which will prevent
future NPAs , than on cleaning up the current NPAs !
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hemenparekh.in / blogs
21 March 2016
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