Ranchi: It is anybody's guess when the old bus stand near Overbridge on Main Road, among the 15 that are to be developed under a private-public partnership, will get its much-needed makeover.
For, three months after the state cabinet approved the funding plan, work on preparing a detailed project report has come to a standstill with the appointed agency, Infrastructure Development Corporation (I-Deck), awaiting the government's instructions for over a year now.
According to an I-Deck official, they had prepared a feasibility report a year back and handed it over to Jharkhand Urban Infrastructure Development Company (JUIDCO). Then, a preliminary DPR was prepared keeping in mind a monorail project that was supposed to pass through a portion of the revamped bus stand.
"But later, the government changed its mind. Instead of monorail, a metro rail was talked of and officials said it would be crossing diagonally across the bus stand. With half of our DPR ready, the urban development department asked us to stop and wait for further instructions," he said, adding that a year had passed since then.
Sources in the urban development department claimed the state government had sent a metro rail proposal for Ranchi a couple of months back and was now awaiting a response.
"Once that happens, we shall be commencing the DPR work afresh but don't know when," the I-Deck official said.
Also, the bus stand project, which was till recently being handled by JUIDCO, was transferred to Jharkhand Urban Transport Corporation (JUTCL) that is supposed to handle all transportation projects for the urban development department.
JUIDCO general manager R.D. Sinha confirmed the shift of the project to JUTCL. "As far as I know, JUTCL is in the process of floating tenders for renovation of a few bus stands. But, I have no idea whether it will include the old government bus stand or not," he said.
JUTCL chief executive officer Navneet Kumar Panjia expressed his ignorance about the old bus stand project, but promised to look into it and speed up the process.
