NASHIK: Over 16 private firms, including a few multi-national corporations (MNCs), have shown interest in getting involved in the e-vehicles (EV) charging station project of the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC).
The NMC had floated a tender to set up 20 such stations in various parts of the city at a cost of Rs10 crore.
Civic officials said that in the pre-bid meeting that took place three days ago, representatives from 16 private companies took part and sought details of the project.
On the request of these firms to have more time to study the project details, NMC has extended the deadline for submission of bids by 15 days.
Officials explained that the last date for filing the tender is May 17 and the bids are to be opened on May 18. A minimum of three bids are needed to carry out the tendering process. However, the interest far surpasses the minimum number, said officials, pointing out that it is probably due to the emerging nature of the EV sector at the moment.
“We are expecting the tender process to be completed by May-end and the actual work to begin by the end of June. It will take around three months to set up EV charging stations in the city,” said another NMC official.
The 20 locations demarcated for the charging stations include six divisional office buildings of NMC, Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan, near Tapovan bus depot, Amrutdham fire station, Satpur fire station, Raje Sambhaji stadium, Bytco hospital on Nashik Road, Krishi Nagar jogging track in Nashik West division, behind BD Bhalekar School’s parking area, Pramod Mahajan Garden in Nashik West, Mahatma Nagar cricket ground, Phalke Smarak, Ganeshwadi vegetable market building, the NMC open space at Lekha Nagar and the NMC ground on Ambad link road.
Sachin Mahajan, the chairman of the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA) state unit, assertd that the demand for EVs in the state is rising significantly. “
The need of the hour is to have adequate EV charging stations in prominent cities like Nashik, Pune, Mumbai etc.,” he said, adding that there has been a rise in the sale of electric two-wheelers in the last two years. Of the total sales of two-wheelers in Maharashtra, the sale of electric two-wheelers is 10%.
“If the infrastructure needed for EVs improves, it will boost the sector overall. Moreover, people will buy EVs as soon as the number of EV charging stations increases,” said Mahajan.
