Racing against time to meet the December 2019 deadline to launch the Pune Metro, officials are struggling to find sponsors for Metro stations, with the corporate sector in the city giving it a cold response. It has been more than a year and a half since officials of the MahaMetro — which is implementing the Pune Metro project — invited Pune Inc to join the project as sponsors for various Metro stations, but there has been no response from the corporate sector yet. Metro officials said the corporates had an opportunity to associate themselves with Metro stations in their respective area. “In Kasarwadi-Dapodi area, a corporate unit was told that the Metro station would be named after its firm if it sponsored the station for 10 years or more. However, we have received no response from any company located along the Pune-Mumbai Highway, which is also the route for the Pimpri-to-Swargate corridor,” an official said. Brijesh Dixit, managing director of MahaMetro, had told The Indian Express that besides proposing to name Metro stations after corporate houses if they agreed to sponsor stations for 10 years or so, the Metro body had also told them that sponsored stations would have architecture and design that would resemble the brand or image of the respective firms. MahaMetro had proposed that stations near the sponsor firms would also have an easy access for their respective employees. Hemant Sonawane, spokesperson for MahaMetro, said: “Though we had written to the corporates more than one-and-a-half-year ago, there has been no response so far.” Sonawane added that they would release advertisements for expressions of interest once the Metro stations start taking shape. “Currently, work on three Metro stations on Pimpri-Swargate route has been started. Once the stations start taking shape, we will release advertisements and hold meetings with the corporate sector. We are confident that some corporates will come forward,” he said. Metro officials said there are six Metro stations from Pimpri to Dapodi. “We have urged the corporates located along the route to participate in the project by sponsoring the stations,” an official said. Metro officials said the cost of naming a Metro station after a corporate firm has been kept at around Rs 60 crore. “It could be a possible reason preventing corporates from coming forward. But we have not heard from them yet. The amount can go down. For that we need to hear from them first,” said a Metro official.
