New convention centre atop Metro Bhavan

Nagpur: As a part of its drive to increase non-ticket revenue, MahaMetro has decided to build a convention centre atop its new office Metro Bhavan. The office is located at a prime location opposite Deekshabhoomi and Metro officials feel the centre will always be in demand.
A Metro official the company had installed solar panels atop Metro Bhavan. “As a large number of panels were installed, a frame had to be put in place for holding them. The height of this frame is 6 metres. We realized there was space beneath it that could be used for commercial purpose. Now our building will become a G+5 structure with two basements,” he added.
The convention centre will be spread over an area of 25,000 square feet. It will have three halls of capacity 375, 260 and 130 persons. “These will have dining facility. We will install two capsule lifts outside the our office building for reaching the centre. Each will have a carrying capacity 13 persons. The total cost of convention centre will be Rs 1.25 crore,” said the official.
MahaMetro has sought permission from Dr Panjabrao Deshmukh Krushi Vidyapeeth (PDKV) to adjacent land for parking of vehicles of users of convention centre.
Metro Bhavan is ready and the process of shifting offices to it will begin in a few days. “The entire office will shift in two months. Our office shifting has no relation with convention centre. Work on it will begin after we get sanction from Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s (NMC’s) town planning department,” the official said.
MahaMetro has undertaken several ways for increasing non-ticket revenue. These include advertisements on stations and trains, royalty from SBI for tying up for automatic fare collection, naming of stations by corporates, testing materials of other companies at the quality checking laboratory, etc.