Ludhiana MC tender draws a blank, timeline extended

A major tender for media rights floated by the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation under the new Punjab Outdoor Advertising Policy 2018 proved to be a non-starter as none of the media owning firms preferred to make a bid. The civic body has extended the timeline for receiving bids in the hope of receiving some response. Industry players when contacted by Media4Growth said that the tender cost at about Rs 30 crore per annum was not viable for business.

The tender was initiated to allot advertising rights at 3,765 locations spread across the city on a variety of formats such as 300 hoardings, bus shelters, FOB, benches and other public utilities. The tender was structured on per design, build, operate, maintain and transfer basis.

Another reason which refrained media owners from local media owners to participate is the upcoming Rs 400 crore elevated road project which is cutting across the city and will supposedly disturb the media formats. This project is expected to take 4 years to complete.

As reported by local dailies, during the last meetings with Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, the interested media owners had raised concern over high tender cost. But in order to compensate and meet the Rs 100 crore per annum revenue target, instead of reducing the cost, the tender duration was increased from 5 years to 9 years.