SAYONI BHADURI – Mumbai
Konkan Royale, a luxury bus service that Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) inaugurated in December 2012 has seen no interest from private operators. “We have already floated the tender for the operation of Konkan Royale buses twice, but we have not received good bids from private operators,” informed Dr Jagdish Patil, MD, MTDC.
MTDC had invited proposals from well established and reputed transportation firms for operating and managing package tour services of the Konkan Royale buses. The operator shall be responsible to market and manage the packaged tours, operate and maintain specified buses on specified routes working in tandem with MTDC in scheduling them. The operator will also be responsible for booking and ticketing the tours as well as assisting MTDC for logistics such as hotel arrangements, tourist facilitation at destinations, etc.
“We have opened the tender for the third time. If we still do not get a response, MTDC will operate the buses on their own,” added Dr Patil. He said that an asset such as the Konkan Royale cannot be left idle for long and MTDC wants to promote Konkan.
