India, Aug. 20 -- The BMC general body on Wednesday night cleared a proposal to redevelop 22 of BEST's 27 bus depots under a public-private partnership (PPP) model. Tabled as an urgent business motion, the proposal was cleared at around 12.35 am following more than two hours of debate. The BEST committee had given its in-principle approval on August 4.

As reported by HT on August 5, the ambitious plan was chalked out to revive the cash-strapped undertaking by redeveloping the bus depots into mixed-use urban hubs. The redevelopment is part of BEST's Rs.28,000-crore "turnaround" revival and modernisation plan. The 22 depots, spread across nearly 132 acres, are proposed to be developed under a Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Transfer (DBFOT) m...