Senior govt officials to address OAC 2018 on July 27-28

Senior government and semi-government officials will be addressing the 14th Outdoor Advertising Convention (OAC) to be held at the Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre Hotel, Powai, Mumbai this week – July 27-28. Keeping in view the potential investments opportunities for the OOH industry in station redevelopment projects, Sanjeev Kumar Lohia, Managing Director & CEO, Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation (IRSDC) will be speaking on the theme of “What’s in store for OOH at ultra-modern railway stations’. S K Lohia (IRSE-1987) has more than 29 years of experience in the transport and urban development sectors, especially in urban, rail and bus based transportation systems. He is presently leading the world’s largest Transit Oriented Development (TOD) and PPP programme.

Nidhi Choudhari, Deputy Commissioner – Special, Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), and Prem Shankar Jha, Deputy Commissioner, South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) will be making separate presentations on the theme of ‘How OOH can transform the urban landscape.

As Dy. Commissioner - Special, Nidhi Choudhari holds charge of removal of encroachment, advertisement, plastic ban, Shop & Establishment and Legal Department, municipal market, licensing, Textile Museum, Mithi River and Tansa Pipeline Project, among other key areas. Earlier, as CEO of Palghar, Nidhi successfully led programmes such as helping 1,500 schools go digital, providing 10,000 homes to the needy, reduction in malnutrition by 50%, construction of 1 lakh individual household toilets in 1 year by which the district was declared free from open defecation -- the 1st tribal district to achieve the landmark.

In his role as Deputy Commissioner of SDMC, Prem Shankar Jha heads the advertising department and has been playing an analytical role in ushering in a standard outdoor advertising policy in the zone under his jurisdiction. Along with various departments such as Remunerative Project Cell, Parking Cell as well as works as Officer on Special Duty, Engineering, under his leadership, SDMC has managed to increase its advertisement revenue from Rs 40 crore in 2015-16 to Rs 135 crore in 2017-18.

OAC 2018 will also witness the release of a 3-volume book on OOH authored by Dr Amiya Chandra, currently the Development Commissioner, Adani Ports & SEZ, Mundra. Amiya will share his deep insights on OOH policies and the business practices in a session titled ‘An OOH Journey – Why the book’.

Amiya is a multi-faceted civil servant with deep knowledge and experience in public affairs, monitoring of mega projects, city management, outdoor advertising & parking policies, sanitation & urban unorganised sectors, legislative & parliamentary affairs, international trade, labour policy & reforms, sports administration & promotion, and arts, aesthetics and culture. During his stint with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) as Officer on Special Duty in charge of Outdoor Advertisement, Parking, Sanitation, he had played an instrumental role in framing the Outdoor Advertisement Policy for Delhi which was approved by the full Bench of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, overruling its own decision and the decision of Hon’ble High Court of Delhi.

Sanjay Kumar Nirmal, Secretary General, Indian Roads Congress, will share his perspectives on how OOH can augment India’s roads experience. S K Nirmal assumed the role as Secretary General of the Indian Roads Congress (IRC) in April 2017. He has been associated with IRC for more than 30 years. He joined the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India through Engineering Services Examination in 1986. From 1986 to 2017 he worked at various offices of the ministry, in various capacities. He also worked in the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) during 2003-2009 as General manager and 2009-10 as Chief General Manager.