BRTC plans to add 1,000 buses to its fleet

Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation is planning to expand its service in Dhaka, Chattogram and different inter-district routes by procuring around 1,000 buses.

A project to buy 340 CNG-run AC buses has already passed, while three more projects for buying 600 more buses are pending approval.

Besides, the state-run transport agency is going to take two separate projects to prepare 1.75 lakh drivers, officials said.

"Turning BRTA into a modern, profitable and smart organisation is my main target," said BRTC Chairman Tazul Islam.

He made the comments at a views-exchange meeting with the members of Reporters for Rail and Road (RRR), an organisation of reporters covering roads, railways, communication infrastructures and transport related issues, at BRTC's headquarters in the capital.

"BRTC is now operational in 208 local and five international routes between Bangladesh and India. Currently, we are carrying feasibility studies to operate buses on three more international routes," he shared.

Tazul said BRTC was incurring losses till 2019-20, but he made the corporation a profitable one after taking charge in February 2021. BRTC made Tk 84.35 crore profit in the last three fiscal years.

The corporation had dues (salary and other benefits for workers and employees) of Tk 101 crore till 2021, but has now already paid Tk 77 crore over the last three years, he said.

THE PROJECTS

BRTC has already taken on a Tk 1,133.46 crore project to procure 340 CNG-run AC buses with a loan from South Korea.

Of the buses, 140 will be used for city services, while the rest for intercity services, Tazul said, adding that they will start the tendering process soon.

He said they have already submitted four projects to buy 400 electric-run and 200 diesel-run buses, 50 trucks, 40 charging stations for electric buses and 10 wreckers.

They have also submitted two separate projects to help train 1.75 lakh drivers to cope with the huge demand.

Col Mohammad Mubarak Hossain Majumdar, director (technical) of BRTC, said five of the projects are now pending with the planning commission for approval, while another is at the road transport and highways division.

He said four of the proposed projects are for procuring vehicles and others are expected to be implemented with loans from India and South Korea while the two with government funds.

Majumdar told this newspaper that most of the buses will be operated for city services.

Currently, BRTC has a fleet of 1,350 buses, of them 1,253 are in operation. In terms of trucks, 505 out of 585 are in operation, according to BRTC document.

RRR president Anowar Hossain, general secretary Tawhidul Islam, training and research secretary Shamim Rahman and several officials of BRTC also spoke at the meeting.