Facing an accumulated loss of over Rs6,500 crore, the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) now plans to develop commercial complexes like luxury hotels and restaurants at its inter-state bus terminals across the city to shore up its revenue.
The transport department of the city government has already sent a proposal to the Union Urban Development ministry seeking its permission to use DTC bus terminals for commercial purposes.
"We have sought permission from the Central Government to allow construction of commercial complexes in the premises of DTC bus terminals," Delhi transport minister Arvinder Singh Lovely said. Delhi Metro is earning a lot of revenue from commercial use of its premises and the city government also wants to follow the same model to augment DTC's revenue.
"The DTC has been incurring loss of nearly Rs560 crore annually. So, we must find ways to improve the finances of the corporation," he said. As per the latest audit report, DTC's accumulated loss stood at over Rs6,500 crore as in March 2009.
Officials said the Government initially wants to develop Inter State Bus Terminals at Kashmiri Gate, Sarai Kale Khan and Anand Vihar for commercial purposes on the lines of Metro stations. The DTC, which runs the world's largest fleet of CNG buses, have been procuring low floor buses as part of its efforts to modernise its bus fleet.
Transport department officials said government has also decided to allow advertisements on the handle bars of the low-floor buses of the Corporation to earn additional revenue. Coming to the rescue of the DTC, the government last week decided to increase its bus fares.
"The DTC is investing a lot to offer the people of the city a modern transport system. So, people will have to bear a little portion of the total expenses," Lovely said, adding the fare hike will provide the DTC an additional amount of Rs400 crore annually.
"Now, we will be able to restrict the losses to around Rs150 crore," he said. Lovely said during next year's Commonwealth Games, the DTC will have a fleet of 5,000 low-floor buses and 2,000 general buses. He said the government has already started work on changing the colour of 2,000 green and yellow DTC buses to grass green colour.
"We will spend Rs20,000 on each old bus for the makeover," he said. The transport sector had secured the highest allocation of Rs3,069 crore in this year's Delhi Government budget.
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