The Transit Elevated Bus shows up in Qinhuangdao, North China's Hebei Province on August 3. Photo: CFP

  

The Qinhuangdao Development and Reform Commission has not received any application to approve the Transit Elevated Bus - dubbed Batie - project, an official from the commission who declined to be identified told the Global Times on Monday.

But he also said that the TEB Technology Development Co, the vehicle builder, might have submitted the Batie project to some district-level development and reform bureaus in the city for approval. 

According to a report by the National Business Daily on Monday, TEB Technology has registered a subsidiary in Beidaihe district, Qinhuangdao, North China's Hebei Province, with capital of 50 million yuan ($7.51 million).

The Global Times reached an official from the Beidaihe district development and reform bureau, who didn't disclose her name. She told the Global Times on Monday she didn't know any details about the Batie project.

According to the National Business Daily report, TEB Technology signed a "strategic cooperation" agreement with the ­Qinhuangdao local government in April.

The Qinhuangdao local government agreed to provide all possible convenient conditions to allow the project to launch quickly, said the report.

It has planned 120 kilometers of operational lines for the Batie, the report noted.

Batie was scheduled to start trial ­operations on Monday in Qinhuangdao, domestic media reported over the weekend, ­citing Song Youzhou, the chief engineer of TEB Technology.

But the official from the Qinhuangdao Municipal ­Development and Reform Commission said he didn't know anything about the trial operations.

TEB Technology couldn't be reached for comment as of press time.

Batie already underwent a 300-meter test drive on Tuesday in Qinhuangdao, according to domestic media reports.

The Batie project has triggered controversy as to the feasibility of the vehicle design as well as the investment behind the project.

According to a report by the Xinhua News Agency on Sunday, a research and manufacturing base of the Batie project in Zhoukou, Central China's Henan Province, showed "no signs of construction at all."