The firm will have to carry out a feasibility study for the BRT corridor along Kathmandu Ring Road, including the service and operations plan, physical and operational design of the BRT system, traffic engineering improvements, application of ITS technologies, and fare collection mechanisms. Similarly, it has to estimate the scale of environmental benefit while adopting an electric BRT System as well as evaluate the PPP investment modality about the feasibility of the BRT System and recommend the appropriate modality that makes the project attractive and feasible to the investors.
The board had earlier issued EoI to study the feasibility of eBRT on November 6, 2022. The deadline for applying for the EoI was December 12, 2022. And, 13 companies from Nepal and abroad submitted proposals. However, it was canceled after the procurement process was found to be inconsistent at the evaluation stage. A senior official of the IBN said that the new EoI was called, canceling the earlier one. The IBN has planned to construct the project under the public-private partnership model. The pre-feasibility study has estimated a cost of USD 153 million (Rs 20.11 billion) to build the infrastructure that will be built under the build-operate-own-transfer (BOOT) model. The government has planned to allocate a lane of Ring Road street for the operation of electric buses. The private sector company will construct modern bus-stop and terminals and smart ticketing, among others. Under the plan, an average of 75 electric buses will be operated on the ring road.
