The ambitious plan of having the Fatorda Margao Bus Terminus (FMBT) is in the pipeline. A meeting hosted by the Chief Minister and attended by TCP Minister, GSIDC officials and others discussed the next plan of action.

The consultative planning of conceiving one of India’s biggest and most equipped bus terminuses has begun. Two rounds of meetings have been held between the stakeholders to begin planning of the Margao KTC Bus stand. The meeting held with the Chief Minister on Tuesday has discussed about having a study into the financial intricacies of the project to make the infrastructure beneficial to the state as well as the public.

The bus stand will be designed and built at an estimated cost of Rs 350 crores, the initial sanction of which was reportedly received from the Chief Minister of Goa Manohar Parrikar when he was in the US for treatment. The meeting on Tuesday was held for moving the process further ahead. Nothing yet has been reportedly decided on whether to develop it on a PPP model or a state built project or a build operate transfer model. A proposal, however, has been moved to amalgamate the adjoining land of GSUDA into the FMBT plan to accommodate a minimum of 300 buses parking in the terminus.

"We have discussed this with the Chief Minister to get the land together and transfer it to the GSIDC and then we will discuss on what model to go about with this project," the TCP minister said.

The render image of the presently planned FMBT that made rounds of the social media gives an impression of a facility that will be of big proportions. Facing the central building of the bus terminus there is a provision for a retail shopping complex on the left and an office tower above the same. A sky bridge connecting the left wing and the right is also a part of the plan. Like the left wing there is an office tower on the right wing and a retail shopping area marked. A clock tower has been shown on the central position of the entire building leading to a public area on the front on the building.

The top section of the building in the image shows places marked for utilities of taxi, bus, cars and autos movement and parking inside the terminus. A large corner and a building has been shown on the corner of the property for Kadamba Offices and also for workshop and gas filling station.

According to the latest report provision for Car parks  1330 in numbers, 1037 two-wheeler parking, in a Multi level car park has been proposed. Provision for Spice Market, Fish Market, Fresh produce market, local handicrafts cooperatives mall, brand store, food court, restaurant, gym, shopping plaza have been proposed in the draft.

In addition to that provision has also been made for nearly 134 buses, 52 auto rickshaws and 56 taxis.

The Bus Depot and KTCL Office will be housed in the office tower which will have KTCL Office, IT Offices, Start-ups /Incubator Zone, Plug and play offices, small and midscale enterprises are also in the proposed plan. This facility will be Wi-Fi enabled and will have high speed elevators.

Tourist Information Centre, Food Kiosks Ticketing Counter Waiting Area, Refreshment Stalls, Public Restrooms, Essential services Access to Bus Bays, Access to Retail, Access to Offices, Access to Food Court, Access to MLCP (Multi Level Car Park) have also been incorporated into the main plan.

All the stakeholders have been asked to give their suggestions and requirements with regards to the planning of the bus stand for both, their better use and also for the state to earn some revenue through it.

The new bus terminus will have 780 buses at one time entry-exit facility with 166 buses parking day and 56 night parking.

As for the maintenance of this bus stand people and youth have claimed there are various facilities of the State that have been built well initially but there has been total failure on maintaining them.

The Collectorate building, Ravindra Bhavan and the state built bus stands in other parts of Goa are an example of negligence. These structures have been built but maintenance of the facilities of these bus stands has been a problem. Presently the costly sensor based urinals, highly equipped Air conditioning units; power unit of the Collectorate has been having problems for quite some time. Similarly, the buses have been ignoring the Cuncolim bus stand and been crowding the main road in front of the state of the art facility.

Since the plan is in its inception the people Goa are wondering how the entire facility will be conceived and over and above how it will be maintained, says a citizen. The TCP Minister and Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai said that there will be a model worked out in the later stages for efficient maintenance of the FMBT. The job will be sub-leased to a company which will take care of the maintenance. "This project is equity and a model where someone can build, pay rent to Government and also maintain the facility for an agreed number of years and can also be an overall model which will include maintenance," said Vijai.