PANJIM: Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Venkaiah Naidu on Friday directed the State government to have the permanent infrastructure for the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) ready for the festival’s 50th edition in November 2019.
Naidu, who was in Goa on Friday, met Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar and others to review preparations for the upcoming IFFI to be held from November 20-28.
Parsekar informed the Union minister that the government is planning a convention centre with a capacity of 6000, outdoor and indoor exhibition space, hotel of 600-1000 keys, multiplex with 12-15 screens and an office complex for Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) and Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF).
“For the purpose, 50 acres of government land at Dona Paula have been identified and allotted to ESG for development of the permanent infrastructure. The process for selection of transaction advisor to execute the project will be taken up and a RFQ-RFP mode on public private partnership (PPP) mode adopted for implementation of the project,” the statement from the government quotes Parsekar as saying.
The Union Minister suggested that the possibility of collaboration with Hindustan Building and Construction Company, a government Navratna company, could be explored for the development of the project.
It was desired that a roadmap and action plan for development of the infrastructure be crystallized and finalised before the forthcoming IFFI so that it can be announced at the 2016 festival.
The meeting decided to rework the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Union Ministry and State government to meet the budgetary and other requirements till 2019. The State is the permanent venue for the film festival.
As reported earlier, the 47th edition of the IFFI has been reduced to a nine-day affair, as against a ten-day event.
DFF has also requested ESG to provide at least 1,400 room nights with 30 premium suits every day during the festival as they (DFF) are focusing on bringing in more film makers.
