Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd is looking at running its Skybus project in Surat and Ahmedabad.

A senior level team from the KRCL visited Surat last week and made presentations before the Surat mayor and top officials of the Surat Municipal Corporation.

A team of councillors of the SMC is planning to visit Mumbai and Goa for more information on the proposed project.

G R Aloria, the commissioner of SMC and a senior IAS officer of Gujarat cadre, had visited the KRCL's headquarters in Mumbai with top state government officers a few days before the visit of the KRCL team in Surat.

KRCL has recently signed a memorandum of understanding with a private company in Coimbatore for running the project there. It plans to start similar services in Kochi and Goa.

A senior official of SMC said: "We are envisaging the project in Surat, considering the growing population in this business centre of the state. We may opt for the Skybus project which will help city-dwellers travel comfortably from one part of the city to another in little time. We are in various stages of discussions with KRCL and senior state government officials for implementation of the project. It will be difficult to say when this project will be implemented as we are yet to get the green signal from the higher ups".

Aloria was not available for comment.

Interestingly, around two years back, Gujarat Industrial Development Board, a state government enterprise, had mooted a similar proposal under its Vision-2010 plan.

It had discussed with KRCL officials about the implementation of a Skybus project in the city. However, nothing much has happened on the much-hyped project.

"We require clearances from various quarters of the state government and need to make certain changes in the town planning. All this takes time," explained a government official.

"There is also the question of financing the project. The state government is cash-strapped and so the project has been shelved for at least another few years," the official added.

Meanwhile, several senior state government officials expressed ignorance on the proposed Skybus project in Ahmedabad.

According to a KRCL official present in the meeting with SMC last week, the Skybus pathway can be laid on the medians of roads. It will involve an investment of just one-fourth the cost of the metro railway or half of the elevated railway system.

Explaining the technology to be used, the government official said: "The medians of roads will be used to erect concrete columns to support an eight metre wide concrete box which will run through the Skybus routes. These concrete box will house the Skybus rail guides from which the coaches are suspended."

"This will minimise chances of road accidents and is almost maintenance free. Overcrowded cities like Ahmedabad and Surat will be highly benefited from this project," the official added.

However, if the project is implemented in Surat, the KRCL may opt for signing a MoU with a local private player, which will be the company's special utility vehicle for this purpose.