The Volvo double decker buses were a novelty when they first hit the streets of Dhaka. Air conditioned and comfortable, they quickly gained popularity among commuters. But they disappeared within a decade and are unlikely to be seen on the roads of Dhaka again.
The authorities had not accounted for maintenance and repair when these buses were procured and as a result they went out of service within eight to nine years although they were projected to have an economic life of 15 years, possibly 20 with good maintenance.
The state owned road transport corporation (BRTC), which operated the buses, is still hopeful of reviving them under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative.
BRTC had brought 50 of those buses for Tk57.50 crore from Sweden in 2002. Lack of maintenance saw the buses starting to go out of commission within four to five years.
Of the buses, 22 are now stashed at the Mirpur depot and 26 at the Kalyanpur depot. Only two are still plying the streets. One official said only 30 of them might be reparable.
The corporation started the Volvo bus service in 2002. The buses started getting damaged from 2006 and the last one went out of commission in 2010. There have also been allegations of mismanagement and corruption in procurement of spare parts.
After a long gap, BRTC recently took an initiative to repair the double deckers and formed a technical committee in May 2015.
The committee’s report said the buses needed repairs worth varying from Tk25 lakh to Tk48 lakh, totalling upto Tk15 crore for 48 buses.
But Volvo bus spare parts are not available in Bangladesh. BRTC contacted several spare parts dealers including Volvo for the purchase. Volvo initially declined on account of unpaid bills of Tk70 lakh. The corporation had imported spare parts from Volvo in 2006-08 but never paid the bills. Volvo later agreed though, but only through India.
BRTC asked the Road Transport and Highways Division (RHTD) for funds in June last year and was turned down.
Then BRTC decided that the buses would be repaired under a PPP scheme. They floated a tender to do so in November 2015.
According to the conditions, the party that repaired the buses would be allowed to operate them for five years with a deposit of Tk200,000 up front for each bus and a daily deposit. But not a single company showed interest.
The BRTC then floated the tender again in January 2016.
“However, even a single company is yet to respond,” BRTC Chairman Mizanur Rahman admitted.
“When we floated the tenders the first time, a number of companies demanded to reduce the deposit rate. Then we floated another tender, this time with a reduced deposit rate — Tk100,000,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.
“We have been discussing continuously with several organisations to repair the buses. We hope to get interested companies to repair the buses,” BRTC chairman said.
“Although the economic life of the buses was projected to be 15 years, it is possible to have them run for 20 with proper maintenance and regular servicing. So we hope that investors will be interested,” he said.
He explained that each Volvo double decker could carry 160 people — 120 seating capacity and a standing passenger load of 40 people. “So a Volovo bus can carry five times more than minibuses, which means higher revenue.”
“If we don’t get any interested parties to invest then we will repair them with our own funds on a monthly basis. That would mean 12 buses a year.”
The price of the each bus was Tk1.15 crore, funded by Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA). But the procurement cost did not include spare parts and maintenance.
Consequently, the buses started having trouble within two to three years of starting operation and gradually went out of service.
Masud Alam, the mechanical manager of Mirpur BRTC bus depot, said: “We failed to repair the buses and keep up maintenance due to a lack of spare parts, simply because they were not available in Bangladesh.”
“The 48 buses have been garaged for a long time,” he said.
Alam observed that the condition of the buses have deteriorated because of sitting idle for such a long time.
“But the chassis of most buses is still good. We hope at least 30 buses are still reparable.”
But sources said that many of these buses lying in depots have many parts missing.
RTHD Secretary MAN Siddique told the Dhaka Tribune: “We did not refuse the BRTC. We directed them to repair the buses with their own funds.”
He also pointed out that there had been a couple of tenders from the BTRC but they were yet to find any takers.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
