The Lahore Transport Company is likely to hire a transaction adviser, on a public-private-partnership mode, for the construction of a state-of-the-art bus terminal near the City railway station this month, Lahore Transport Company Operations Manager Faisal Naseer told The Express Tribune on Saturday.
The company called for bids for the transaction adviser two months ago. It has planned to build a bus terminal on 42 kanals and 15 marlas between Empress Road and GT Road near the railway station. The LTC received technical bids from 10 companies, including two Indian companies. Five of the companies will soon be asked for financial bids.
The government recently approved the PC-2 (feasibility study) to hire a transaction adviser to prepare a case for the construction of the bus terminal through private investment. The adviser may be paid Rs20 million.
The bus terminal is expected to provide facilities to more than 200,000 people travelling to and from Lahore via railway.
LTC officials have said the present terminal is a junction for around 15 bus routes and seven wagon routes covering the major routes of the city. The transaction adviser will also conduct a study on the current use of the terminal.
The terminal is expected to be built on a build-operate-transfer mode, which means that the company constructing the bus terminal will be able to generate revenue from it as well.
Besides waiting areas and marked parking bays, the project will include hotels, shops and parking lots from where the company hopes to generate revenue.
In October 2012, the city government had built a bus terminal at Thokar Niaz Baig at a cost of Rs200 million on 109 kanals, to reduce traffic congestion from the Lorry Adda bus stand. However, the terminal, which has the capacity to dock 128 buses, has largely become a stopover for buses leaving from Lorry Adda.
Lahore Transport Company Operations Manager Faisal Naseer said that the transaction adviser would be hired very soon. He said given the financial activity in the area, the project would easily attract investors on BOT basis. He said construction will cost between Rs3 billion and Rs5 billion. The LTC has sent the Rent Assessment Committee a request to ascertain the rent-ability of the area. He said it will help them determine the reserve prices for shops, hotels and parking lots that would be constructed.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 13th, 2014.