PRAGATI MAIDAN TO BE REDEVELOPED INTO WORLD CLASS CONVENTION CENTRE

Modern exhibition-convention centre to come up which will use a budget of Rs 2,254 crore

NEW DELHI: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, here on Tuesday approved a project for redeveloping Pragati Maidan into a world class exhibition-cumconvention centre.

The CCEA gave its nod to the project, proposed by the India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO), which will use a budget of Rs 2,254 crore.

The ITPO will utilise Rs 1,200 crore out of its free reserves towards funding of this project, while the rest will be raised by it through several forms of loans, which will be partially guaranteed by the government.

“With India’s growing international profile and increasing presence at summit, ministerial and other levels, a need has been felt to have a modern world class Integrated Exhibition-cum-convention Centre at New Delhi to provide an appropriate venue for international events. Present facilities are far short of international standards,” a statement from CCEA said. The redevelopment of the premier location for cultural events will be done in two phases. The first is expected to be over by May 2019. After completion of this phase, an expanse of 3.26 lakh square metres will have been redeveloped.

“After redevelopment, the exhibition space will be doubled to 1.19 lakh square meters as against 65,000 square metres presently. Redevelopment will also include creation of a stateof-the-art convention centre with seating capacity of 7,000 persons,” the statement added.

The building of the mega project has been assigned to National Buildings Construction Corporation Limited (NBCC) as a Project Management Consultant by ITPO.

The ITPO would also call for global bidding for selection of project executors for construction of the project.

To ease the congestion during the construction, a grade separator (flyover) will be provided at the Mathura Road and Bhairon Road junction, while a subway will connect Mathura Road to Ring Road running across Pragati Maidan area, the Cabinet committee said.

The Indian Institute of Architects, which says it has 20,000 members, has made multiple appeals in the last few years to the government to reject the new plan and save the buildings, which it has described as “testimony to the nation’s prowess in structural engineering and architecture.”

ITPO will utilise Rs 1,200 crore out of its free reserves towards funding of this project, while the rest will be raised by it through several forms of loans, which will be partially guaranteed by the govt