Chandigarh: Chennai firm comes forward for public cycle sharing system

N P Sharma, general manager, smart city project, said, “We received the technical bid of Smartbike Mobility Pvt Ltd of Chennai. The company has already worked in the field of bike sharing in different cities, including Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi and Amaravati. Indeed, only one company has come forward but as the mode of this project is PPP, the administration has nothing to spend on this project. There is no chance of the bidding process being challenged. The company will have to decide modes of generating the revenue. One: charges for using the bikes. Second: advertisement charges.”

Sources said there are three stages for allotting the tender to a company. First: the technical bid of the company will be checked by the technical committee of smart city project. Second: if the technical bid is approved, it will be sent for scrutiny of financial bid. Third: the final approval will be given by the Board of Directors.

In 2016-17, a tender for the project was floated by the Municipal Corporation but it was withdrawn because the governing body of smart city project was not made. For a second time, the tender was floated in 2018 but no company came forward.

As per the terms and conditions, those who have the smart card (rechargeable) will get a bicycle for Rs 5 per hour and those who don’t possess any smart card will be getting it for Rs 10 per hour.