LAHORE, Dec 15: The City District Government will invite the seven selected investors to bid for the development of the Multan Road General Bus Stand near Thokar Niaz Beg on a build-operate-transfer basis next month.

District Nazim Mian Amer Mahmood has cleared the Rs500 million project for bidding by the seven investors shortlisted from among over a dozen entrepreneurs who expressed intent to execute the project. The CDG consultants are now busy finalizing the terms and conditions for awarding the contract.

The CDG will hand over 260 kanal depot of the defunct Punjab Road Transport Corporation to the private sector for development into a full-fledged modern general bus stand spread over 400 kanal area by acquiring another 160 kanal land adjacent to it. For this purpose, a Rs8 million allocation is already available in the current financial year’s budget.

The CDG has decided not to make the title of its land available to the private investor to mortgage it for procurement of bank loan for the development of the bus stand but would stand surety for the loan. The developer will be allowed to make all sorts of collections from the bus stand during the period of agreement and pay a fixed percentage to the CDG.

It will wind up nearly a dozen private bus stands operating on Bund Road after the completion of the Multan Road GBS. The CDG will also build a flyover on Multan Road for linking the bus stand with the Motorway.

The new bus stand will have the facility for 4,000 buses and coaches. As many as 50 bays are proposed to be built for the departure of buses and coaches and parking facilities for 340 buses and coaches. Separate area will be specified for the offloading of passengers by the buses and coaches arriving in the provincial metropolis from other cities.

The bus stand will also have a terminal for urban bus service, a taxi stand, restaurants and waiting rooms for the passengers and bus drivers, a police post, the motorvehicle examiner’s office for issuing fitness certificates for buses, the first aid post and a fire brigade station, a petrol pump, service stations and workshops.