PHA to outsource advertising rights

Companies invited to express interest in developing state-of-the-art advertising spaces

LAHORE: The Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) has decided to outsource home advertisement rights in the city to private parties. It will also share the revenue earned on advertising with the these entities.

A French advertising agency has already expressed interest in developing state-of-the-art bus shelters, advertising spaces and street furniture on major roads of the city.

The winning contractor will work on bus and taxi shelters, flower shops, clusters of shops, information panels, kiosks, benches and bins, automatic recycle machines, pollution control devices and plants.



To this end, it was required to install a reasonable number of digital screens, column, bridge banners (overhead fascia, underpass fascia subject to availability), uni-pole and bus shelters, automatic or semi-automatic public toilets, e-villages, free Wi-Fi points and any other innovative but environmentally viable facility, in the form of street furniture, in Lahore.

The authority has outlined a list of prerequisites and specific experience in management of outdoor advertisements, such as installation, maintenance, construction, design and management. It stated that the company chosen for the initiative must have worked on other projects worth at least $10 million.

The PHA has also demanded a list of completed projects from prospective contractors to confirm their competence when handling such a situation.

The authority has already formed a committee to carry out an evaluation of the proposals. The documents indicate firms scoring less than 65% will be rejected and their financial proposals will be returned unopened. According to PHA documents, it will be the first project of its nature in Pakistan and some concessions would be given through open bidding. Also, the bidder will be investing and maintaining the whole assignment for a certain period of time with specific terms and condition, keeping national interest of paramount important.

The authority is interested in completing the project as soon as possible and to have it commissioned on a priority basis with mutual understanding so that public money is not spent.

Therefore, the PHA is expecting bidder firms to understand the importance of the project and observe timelines strictly in accordance with the request for proposal (RFP) project contract. The last date of submitting proposals is set on December 26.

Lahore Division Commissioner Abdullah Khan Sumbal, whom the French company approached initially, told The Express Tribune that the advertising agency—JCDecaux—recently submitted an unsolicited bid to build modern bus shelters in different areas of the city. He said the foreign company submitted an attractive proposal. “We informed its representatives that they have to pass a competitive bidding process in order to execute the project. In the first phase, any company that succeeds in the bidding process will be allowed to build modern bus shelters on Ferozepur Road and later more roads and sites will be awarded to the company.”



Sumbal said that the French advertising agency is renowned for its innovative advertising and street furniture solutions. It has a presence in almost 75 countries in the world, including states in Europe, America, and Asia. In a public-private partnership mode, the company would build around 130 to 150 bus shelters in Lahore. These would be equipped with digital advertising solutions, electronically controlled public toilets and broadband Internet access.

The company has expressed its interest in developing modern bus shelters on Ferozepur Road, main Boulevard, Jail Road and Ring Road. “If the pilot project becomes successful, the government will try to ask the foreign company to build bus shelters in other areas of the city too, he said. “India has recently awarded a similar contract to the same company for 20 years,” he added. “We are also working on a similar model in which the company will share advertising revenue with the PHA, which is currently facing a financial crunch. The provincial government has cut its major income source by removing billboards from main city roads.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 5^th, 2017.