Indian Express 19.12.2009
MC hits the jackpot as billboards dot Panchkula
As the city turns into a broad advertising canvas with huge billboards donning all roads, it is the Municipal Council that is laughing all the way to the bank.
The MC has marked over 100 sites for commercial purposes across the city, 30 per cent of which have already been utilised. The cash-strapped MC, which was unable to make much money after the state government abolished house tax, is now earning an annual revenue of more than a crore from these 100 plus billboads. This amount will subsequently increase by 10 per cent per year according to the terms and conditions of the five-year contract signed by the advertising firm.
Talking to Newsline, MC Executive Officer O P Sihag said: “We have finalised 110 sites in total for these hoardings which include 50 unipoles, 54 bus queue shelters and six gentries. The job of installing these hoardings has been outsourced to a New Delhi-based firm, Outdoor Communication.”
The MC had invited tenders from advertising firms for the projects, which were shortlisted by an expert committee comprising the deputy commissioner and city magistrate among others last month.
Earlier, it was the Haryana Urban Development Authority that took the lead in setting up billboards in the city. Calling it “the biggest source of revenue”, Sihag expressed happiness for the huge revenues the MC is generating from the project.
Most of these billboards have been placed quite strategically on main roads, near the roundabouts and some of them are right opposite traffic lights. But the MC is in complete denial mode that the advertisements are a source of distraction to commuters.
“Drivers do not get distracted by these hoardings at all. We have been careful with the locations so that they grab the maximum eyeballs and minimum diversion of attention of the drivers,” justified Sihag.
