NHAI seeks land from Haryana govt for Gurgaon’s pod taxi project

The much-hyped pod taxi project, which has been in the pipeline for almost a decade, is taking concrete shape with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) seeking land from Haryana to set up the personal rapid transport system.

Recently, the highways authority had invited bids for setting up the pod taxi project on a design, build, finance, operate and transfer basis (DBFOT).

The project was envisaged by the erstwhile Bhupinder Singh Hooda government and is yet to be implemented.

The personal rapid transit (PRT), also referred to as pod cars, are small battery-operated, driverless and laser-guided vehicles running on elevated tracks. With a passenger carrying capacity of 4-6 persons, a pod car can speed up to 40kmph. Weighing about 850 kg, the car is best suited for a burgeoning city like Gurgaon.

The right of way would be the entire carriageway of the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway and will be 12.3 km long.

It will start from Delhi-Gurgaon border on the Expressway and extend till Badshahpur on Sohna Road via Rajiv Chowk. The indicative cost of the project is Rs 835.62 crore and the last date for submitting qualification bids is April 11.

To ensure that work on the project is not dogged by land acquisition issues, NHAI in a letter to Haryana government has sought 15 acres to set up stations.

The land the NHAI seeks falls in the green belts controlled by the Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) and Haryana State Industrial & Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (HSIIDC).

This will have to be transferred free of cost by the agencies as per the initial agreement between the NHAI and the Haryana government.

The sites include Ambience Mall, Cyber city, Jwala mill chowk to Atlas chowk, Atlas chowk, near Heritage city, iffco chowk, Iffco Chowk near Crown plaza, near Signature Tower , Jharsa road , Jharsa road towards Ch Bakhtawar Singh road , Near Rajiv Chowk, near Tau Devi Lal Stadium, near Islampur village , near Sadar police station , near central park , near Casabella Garde, near Dr Amebdkar Bhawan at Badshahpur chowk .

The land is being sought to set up pod stations from Ambience Mall to Rajiv Chowk and from there to Badshahpur Chowk on Sohna road.

“We are keen to complete this project in a time-bound manner as it will resolve commuting issues in Gurgaon to a great extent,” Ashok Sharma, project director, NHAI, said.