Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC), which loses Rs 1 crore a day, may potentially mop up thousands of crores once its plan to monetise its real estate assets kicks off. DTC plans to invite private players to build budget hotels, offices and malls on the 200 acre at its 34 bus depots, many of which are in the heart of the city.

A pilot project is already underway. DTC is getting a project report prepared for its Vasant Vihar bus depot. The report is likely to be ready in two to three months and depending on the recommendation of the report, DTC will invite private players to develop the fiveacre property. In the initial phase, the public transport service provider plans to develop depots located at more lucrative locations such as Vasant Vihar, Nehru Place, Sukhdev Vihar and IP Estate.

"Some of our depots are located at prime locations and present huge business opportunity. They can emerge as a good source of revenue for us," says DTC CMD Ramesh Negi. Most DTC depots are spread over five to six acres while some on the outskirts are far larger.

 Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) too has quite well monetised its real estate assets, auctioning land for residential and commercial use and leasing developed space for retail and advertising. Non-traffic revenue has been a significant contributor to DMRC's topline. The loss-making DTC too has been looking to augment its non-traffic revenue in the past few years. DTC expects to generate around Rs 100 crore in annual revenue through advertising on its bus shelters in the next two years. This would be a five-fold jump from its current advertising revenue of Rs 20 crore.

At present, DTC operates around 3,500 buses, including 500 new low-floor AC and non-AC buses. It plans to add over 3,000 new low-floor buses, including 1200 AC buses, by July 2010. This will cost DTC around Rs 1,750 crore.

DTC is planning another major initiative to prepare a strong manpower base for its operation. DTC, as many other transporters across the country, is facing a deep scarcity of drivers. It now plans to set up a driving school, which will churn out at least 2,000 drivers annually. "It has been enormously difficult to hire drivers simply because there are very few well-trained drivers. We have gone for all India recruitment and still not managed to fulfil our requirement. We need 10,000 drivers for the new buses we are going to buy," says Mr Negi. He says the country hardly has any institution to train drivers. DTC's driving school will be run on a PPP model, with government providing the fixed cost and private player bearing the operational expenses.

                                                                          Courtesy:- ET dtd:- 11th Sep.2008