5 Bidders for GIFT City’s PRT System Consultant Contract

5 consulting firms this week submitted bids to prepare a Feasibility Study for developing a personal rapid transit (PRT) system in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) near Ahmedabad & Gandhinagar.

This proposed project will transport 4-8 passengers in small driverless pod-cars or pod-taxis for nonstop point-to-point travel within the business district, which aims to be developed on sustainable, smart and green principles.

It is strangely being executed by National Highways Logistics Management Ltd. (NHLML) – a special purpose vehicle of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Tenders for this consultancy contract were invited in January 2023 with an unknown estimate and 180 day deadline. Technical bids were opened on June 6.

Bidders

• Ardanuy Ingineria
• Bernard Consultants
• DB Engineering and Consulting
• K and J Projects
• RINA Consulting

Brief Scope: Consultancy Services for Carrying out Feasibility Study for Development of Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) System in GIFT City, Ahmedabad, Gujarat

As shared in the past, I’ve never been convinced by the utility of PRT systems in the urban landscape, particular in India, due to severe capacity constraints even though they’ve been tested with 1 second headways. They are too small for big cities, and too costly for smaller cities.

I’m rooting that GIFT City (or any city in India) never sees it. There are only a handful of PRT systems around the world (eg: Heathrow Airport in London and Suncheon in South Korea) and most are 1-4 km long. Many operators have in fact suspended plans for further expansion.

Here’s a 8+ year old video from London to give an idea of what PRT is all about:

GIFT City will be linked to Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar in Ahmedabad Metro’s 28.25 km Phase 2 project. Back in May-end, Afcons started launching segments for a ~700m bridge over Sabarmati River linking GNLU and GIFT City.

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– TMRG