Team Herald
PANJIM: The State Cabinet on Wednesday approved a proposal to set up an international convention centre on public-private partnership (PPP) basis at the Dona Paula plateau. The cabinet also decided on a request for proposal and a consultant for the entire project.
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The world class convention centre with a seating capacity of about 5000 seats will be built on 98,299 square metres of land, which was the earlier site for the proposed Rajiv Gandhi IT Habitat.
A convention hotel of not less than 300 rooms and a four-screen multiplex with seating capacity of 800 seats will also be built adjacent to the convention centre.
The estimated project cost is Rs 540 crore and it will be constructed on Design Build Finance Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) basis with a concession period of 60 years. The government will allot land to the concessionaire, who will build the project and share revenue with the government till the 60-year concession period ends. At the end of the concession period the entire facility will be transferred to the State government.
The convention centre and the multiplex will be built and commissioned within 30 months from the date of the commencement of the construction and the convention hotel will be built within 42 months from the date the construction starts.
It may be recalled that in 2006 the then government decided to set up Rajiv Gandhi IT Habitat project at Dona Paula plateau and also allotted plots to some of the IT companies. But a year later there were violent protests by the local villagers who stopped the work and also damaged the property.
A few years later the government decided to set up international convention centre after Goa become the permanent venue for International Film Festival of India (IFFI) and it was announced that the opening and closing ceremonies of 50th IFFI held in 2019 would be organised at the international convention centre. But the project failed to see the light of the day.
