The Land Transport Authority (LTA) will build a new bus depot in Jurong West, as part of a move to provide bus operators with additional aid. The new depot is for SMRT, and will cater to the additional buses that the operator is bringing in over the next few years.

In a release on Tuesday, the LTA noted that SMRT's existing bus depots and bus parks are reaching full capacity, and the new facility as additional buses are added under the S$1.1 billion Bus Service Enhancement Programme.

The LTA will call a tender on Tuesday seeking contractors to build the new bus depot off Jurong West Ave 2, which will accommodate about 500 buses and be ready in 2015.

This comes after the Government announced in 2012 that it would fund the development and land cost of bus depots and bus parking infrastructure, and lease these to bus operators at a nominal fee. So far, the LTA has developed and handed over one bus park at Upper Changi Road East to SBS Transit and another at Woodlands to SMRT in January this year.