The Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) is planning to auction underpasses for outdoor advertisements for a period of one to two years in a bid to generate around Rs 100-150 million next month, Pakistan Today has learnt. It will be the second time that underpasses will be auctioned for advertisements. Last time, PHA auctioned 10 underpasses and earned over Rs 35 million in 2010. However, all auctions were cancelled later on. A senior official in PHA told Pakistan Today that a plan was afoot to auction fascias of all underpasses. Reserve price would vary between Rs 2 million to 5 million depending upon the locality of each underpass, he added.
Last time, bids were low and the housing secretary rejected the auction and ordered re-auction to get reasonable bids for the underpasses. Underpasses that would be auctioned for advertisements are Harbanspura Underpass, Dharampura Underpass, Shalimar Underpass, Mall Underpass , Jail Road Underpass, FC College Underpass, Ferozpur Road Underpass, Gulzar Underpass, the New Campus Underpass, Jinnah Hospital Underpass, Doctors’ Hospital Underpass and Niazi Interchange Underpass. Another PHA official said that auction of underpasses would help generate revenue, which was plummeting. By enforcing the new Outdoor Publicity Policy 2008, PHA earned earned over Rs 254 million in 2009 and Rs 41 million in 2010 through billboard auctions.
Following a row between PHA and the Punjab Outdoor Publicity Association, which further was completed with litigation, all auctions had to be cancelled, he said. The situation caused financial setback to PHA. Owing to the plummeting revenue, the government had started planning to dissolve PHA, he said. However, he hoped that the fresh auction would bring a fortune to PHA, he added. POAA Imran Jaffri welcomed the move but said that it was need of hour to look into the issue as to why the entire setup of outdoor advertisement was disturbed during the last two years and those who were involved in the mess must be brought to book. He said the outdoor advertising was the only industry in the country, which was paying advance tax of Rs 3 billion per annum.
He condemned PHA for cancelling the previous auctions and removing billboards in the city, saying that it resulted in thousands’ unemployment. PSO to CM Khawaja Imran Raja said that PHA faced revenue loss of Rs 13 billion in five years owing to the policy laid down by former CM Pervez Elahi.
