BRTC to add 175 CNG-run buses to various city routes

Munima Sultana | Published: February 26, 2011 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Munima Sultana
The state-run BRTC will soon add more 175 CNG-run buses to its fleet plying the Dhaka city roads. These eco-friendly buses from China are expected to reach the Chittagong port today (Saturday), officials said. Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) has imported the 52-seat CNG buses as part of its plan to offer an economically affordable transport system to Dhaka commuters. The corporation also intends to make its bus services competitive like the private sector transport companies which are using clean fuel since long. "The buses will soon ply the city roads after completing the formalities like port clearance and registration," said BRTC chairman M M Iqbal. He said the corporation has already identified routes for the buses that would reduce the commuters' dependency on small vehicles including minibuses. The BRTC has taken initiatives to import the Chinese red coloured CNG buses, now available on the city's four busy routes, after saving a fund from the import of its first 100 CNG buses in February 2010. The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) allowed the corporation to use the fund saved to buy more buses from China in July. The BRTC has a budget of Tk 900 million, including finance from Nordic Development Fund, to import CNG buses. However, the lowest Chinese bidder offered only Tk 325 million for the deal, down by around 70 per cent. The BRTC officials said each CNG bus costs Tk 3.5 million. The cost of buying the latest buses has increased from the earlier shipment due to new tax imposed by the government in the current budget. The official said the BRTC has already decided to add 45 buses to the existing routes including Abdullahpur-Motijheel, Mirpur-Motijheel and Balurghat-Motijheel routes. Besides, the corporation identified seven more routes to use the imported buses. These include Mirpur 12-Abdullahpur via Ring Road, Shikbari-Tongi, Motijheel-Narsingdi, Mohammadpur-Motijheel, Mohammadpur-Badda and Gabtoli-Gulistan. "We have also planned to introduce more school buses with the imported buses," the BRTC chairman said, dismissing private sector's anxiety of possible unfair competition. He said BRTC still remains as a minor player in transport services, as the private operators now own over 6,000 buses against the organisation's only several hundreds. "The city of 13 million people still needs higher number of passenger buses on various routes," he added.