KARACHI, Aug 30: The city government has extended the due date for submitting tenders for its urban transport scheme till Sept 9, in which twenty-seven bidders have already bought tender documents for 18 local routes in Karachi.

Due to the interest expressed by the Pak-Saudi investment group, City Nazim Naimatullah Khan issued special directives to the transport and communication department late Thursday evening to extend the due date which was Aug 30.

However, a number of potential investors, who had already taken tender documents, have criticized the decision which was announced on Friday when many of them either reached the transport and communication office or called in to know the time of depositing the documents.

Among the potential 27 investors are prominent national road carriers, including Daewoo, Blue Lines, Shalimar, World Wide Motors, Shahnawaz Motors and even the Swede bus company which had signed an agreement with the provincial government more than a year ago for plying large buses in Karachi but has yet to fulfil the agreement.

A number of transporters who reached at the transport department’s head office in Civic Centre criticized the continuing extension in the due date, which was originally scheduled for Aug 5.

To make the matter transparent, DCO Karachi Shafiqur Rehman Paracha has notified a committee to finalize matters relating to scrutiny of tender documents, assessment of the investors’ financial standing, experience in the field and quality of buses which the investors would bring on the roads. The committee is headed by the DCO, while its secretary is DO public transport, with Salim Azher as representative of the city Nazim, EDO (transport department) Dr Tahir Soomro, director general, KMTP, Malik Zaheerul Islam, DOs (law and finance), besides a representative of the army monitoring team as its members.

The 18 local routes will be given to bidders, based upon the points they obtain from information given in the tender documents. According to a formula, 50 points are fixed for strong financial standing, 40 for experience in the field and ten for specification of the buses, as large and CNG buses are being encouraged.

According to an official of the transport department, final announcement of routes will be made in the first week of October as the date of deposition of tenders has been extended and it will take about three weeks to clear all formalities.

One of the major incentives for the operators will be a mark- up subsidy reimbursement directly to the operators at 6 per cent for non-AC and 9 per cent for AC buses. However, it is clearly stated in the request for proposal of the transport department that successful operator will be required to ensure that the proposed buses are brand new and meet its standards while the minimum fleet of buses should be 25.

The department has set the target of 500 buses after which no incentive will be given to any transporter willing to bring in large bus.

The chairman, transport committee of the City Council, has said extensions in the due date was aimed at providing an opportunity to a maximum number of investors. However, authorities in Lahore had initiated a similar scheme on the first-come-first-serve basis.—PPI