The Hindu Business Line : Chennai Corpn mulls new-look bus shelters

Chennai, Sept. 5 In less than six months, as they wait for their buses, Chennai-ites will be able to stand under nice, clean, roomy, well-lit, stainless steel-built bus shelters. At least, that is the desire of Corporation of Chennai.

By all indications, the corporation’s desire is likely to be fulfilled. It tendered out 350 locations for bus shelters and four Mumbai-based advertising companies have responded —Adlabs, News Outdoor (of Star Media), Rajdeep Buildcon Pvt Ltd and Lakshya Media. The validity of the licence period is 12 years.

This is the first round of bidding. In the second, another 400 locations will be bid out, the Commissioner of Chennai Corporation, Mr Rajesh Lakhoni, told Business Line.

The winning bidders will earn their income by selling ad-space within the shelters. However, they will also be required to put messages of public interest alongside the ads.

The Rs 100-crore bus shelter project is one example of the number of public-private partnership (PPP) initiatives of the corporation.

Foot over-bridge

Another example is the foot over-bridge (FOB) project. Initially, three locations have been bid out, but Mr Lakhoni’s plan is to have at least 22 across Anna Salai.

So if you want to cross the Anna Salai near SIET college or Panagal building in Saidapet, there is an over bridge, with escalators for going up and down. Here again, the space on the sides of the bridge across the road will be used for putting up ads.

Three companies — Lakshaya Media, Vantage and Cell Well — have bid for all the three locations. Each FOB will cost around Rs 4 crore — about Rs 90 crore for all the proposed locations.

“They will also pay us (corporation) a royalty,” Mr Lakhoni said.