Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) is planning to procure private partners to develop bus depots in the city, located in Maharastra state, western India.

The authority is struggling to maintain its fleet with the existing 13 bus depots in the city. Around 100 of the 1,800 buses do not have parking spaces, and 800 new buses are to be added to the fleet this year. PMPML does not have the financial resources to meet this demand, so intends to engage the private sector.

The plan is to lease depots to private parties who will develop them under build-operate-transfer (BOT) contracts. The projects will focus on revenue generation, with private partners to develop retail and food and beverage facilities and give a portion of revenue to PMPML. The transport authority suffered losses of approximately INR2 billion (US$38.1 million) in 2018, necessitating an increase in non-fare revenue generation by 44%.

Tenders will reportedly be launched soon.