CHANDIGARH: The much-talked project of bicycle sharing in the city is going to become a reality soon as two Delhi-based companies have finally technically qualified for the same after the authorities concerned failed thrice to get eligible companies for the project. Now, Chandigarh Smart City Limited will open the financial bid of the project and if all goes well then the selected company will be allotted the work by the last week of January.A total 5,000 hybrid bicycles having both facilities of battery and paddles will be provided to the public at 617 locations, which is being seen as a major boost for the project, claiming to be first of its kind in the country."Both of these technically qualified companies, UTU Mobile and Smart Bikes, have been running bicycle sharing projects in a few other cities - Hyderabad, Delhi and Chennai. A team of smart city project of Chandigarh has physically inspected all their ongoing projects in Hyderabad and a few other cities too to see their function and mode of working and other related parameters.City's bicycle sharing project is a first of its kind in the country, because UT is bringing 5,000 cycles under the project, with both facilities of battery and paddles," said a senior officer of the Chandigarh administration."The charges for bicycle sharing have been kept at Rs 5 and 10 for half an hour and for an hour, respectively, for members and Rs 10 and 15 have been fixed for the same distance for the public. Chandigarh will not spend even a single penny on this Rs 21.73 crore project and will be providing just selected advertisement rights to the successful company to run the project in the city.After its constant failures thrice recently, the Chandigarh Smart City Limited had relaxed the norms of the said bicycle sharing project in the city and had floated a fresh tender for the fourth time to get the bidders."A significant change in the relaxed norms is that the hybrid bicycles will have both facilities of paddles and battery as earlier merely 25% bikes were being run on battery power and rest all were having paddles. Besides this, the city has also been divided into four zones, so that the successful bidder could easily provide the facilities and fulfil the related conditions," an official said.The Chandigarh Smart City Limited had also reduced the earnest money for the bidders from Rs 30 lakh to Rs 5 lakh for the interested bidder, so that more bidders could apply for the project in the city.