New Delhi: The Delhi Transport Company (DTC) in its board assembly final week determined to utilise vacant areas at its depots and terminals for establishing gas stations.
Officers mentioned that underneath the undertaking, oil advertising firms will likely be allowed to arrange and function Firm-Owned, Firm-Operated (COCO) retailers on DTC land. The areas won’t be leased out. As an alternative, a revenue-sharing mannequin has been accepted to make sure long-term monetary returns for the transport company.
Officers acquainted with the event mentioned that whereas Delhi has been combating restricted land availability for brand spanking new petrol pumps, many DTC depots have unused land pockets that may be repurposed with out affecting bus operations.
In accordance with the Petroleum Planning and Evaluation Cell (PPAC) information, Delhi presently has 398 operational petrol pumps, a decline from 416 in 2015. This makes Delhi the nation’s solely state the place the variety of petrol pumps has gone down over the previous decade, sellers within the metropolis mentioned.
The decline, based on gas sellers, has been primarily pushed by authorities infrastructure initiatives.
Nishchal Singhania, president of the Delhi Petrol Sellers Affiliation, mentioned: “A number of petrol pumps within the capital have been shut down attributable to metro and street enlargement initiatives. As soon as these pumps have been closed, the sellers couldn’t discover new websites in Delhi due to land unavailability.”
Singhania mentioned that some operators shut down their companies, whereas others shifted to NCR cities, the place approvals and land availability have continued to enhance.
An official mentioned this distinction was one of many key the reason why DTC determined to supply its vacant areas for gas stations.
Singhania added: “Opening DTC land is a good suggestion as a result of Delhi urgently wants extra petrol pumps. Nevertheless, earlier than handing the websites to COCO operators, choice must be given to these dealerships that have been compelled to close down attributable to authorities initiatives.”
DTC officers mentioned the company remains to be evaluating a number of fashions, and solely the revenue-sharing construction has been finalised to this point. They added that permitting oil firms to make use of depot areas won’t have an effect on their Company Social Accountability (CSR) obligations.
DTC will now establish depots with enough spare land and invite proposals from oil advertising firms within the coming weeks.
