Cabinet clears Rs.25,703 cr exhibition centres

The Union Cabinet recently approved Rs.25,703 crore for development of an Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre (ECC) at Dwarka in south-west Delhi, thereby, placing the national capital in the league of Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore in the exhibition market, official sources said. The ECC and allied infrastructure will be developed in public private partnership (PPP) and non-PPP mode (including exhibition and convention spaces, arena, trunk-infrastructure, Metro/NHAI connectivity, hotels, office and retail spaces) by 2025. The Phase-1 of the project comprising trunk infrastructure along with exhibition cum convention centre will be implemented and commissioned by December 2019 and it will be implemented as non-PPP component. While Phase-2 comprising the remaining exhibition area, will be implemented by 2025. The components comprising hotels, retail space and offices will be implemented in PPP mode. It is estimated that the proposed ECC facility, once fully operational, will infuse a demand for more than 100 major international and local exhibition events annually.