Advertisement hoardings  lining the City sky-high have emerged as a major cause of concern for the BBMP. To gradually do away with this culture, the Corporation is going all out to make available different kinds of civic infrastructure for those interested in advertising their wares.

A garbage collection model on the lines of that followed in Delhi will be introduced in the City shortly by creating garbage collection points. Apart from the utility purpose they can be used for advertising too.  “These collection points will be set up at the usual spots where people dump their garbage in residential and commercial areas,” Special Commissioner (Administration) B S Ramprasad told Metrolife.

These points would resemble rooms which would be divided into two sections. “Degradable garbage can be dumped in one section while nondegradable material will be dumped inside the other.” Garbage would be put in through the open entrance at the back of the rooms while the closed front portion can be used for advertising purposes, the Special Commissioner said. 

There are plans to make use of public toilets in a similar way in the future, informed Assistant Commissioner G M Gangadharaswamy.

Bus shelters

Altogether 175 ultramodel bus shelters, which can be used for advertising purposes, will come up in the City in the wards which were covered by the erstwhile BMP.  These bus stops, will be constructed by two prominent advertising agencies, the London-based agency Clear Channel and the Bombay-based Hype.

The agencies would get between four and five months to construct the shelters which are being done on a Build-Operate-Transfer basis.  “They  would pay the BBMP over Rs one lakh for each bus shelter.  Hype has been awarded 132 shelters while Clear Channel has been given 43 shelters,” Gangadharaswamy said.

The BBMP stands to get Rs 2.5 crore annually from the contract which will be signed for a five-year period with the agencies. The advertising tax that they have to pay BBMP is also included in the amount to be collected, Gangadharaswamy added.  Bus shelters will be improvised shortly in the newly added wards to the corporation. 

The BBMP is also planning to erect model bus shelters at two places shortly. These shelters will have toilets, time indicators, pollution level indicators, temperature readings, pollution levels, drinking water and facility for charging mobile phones. “We are still in the process of finalising the venue for it. We also hope to extend it to a few other places if they prove to be successful,” Ramprasad said.