With several State Governments setting up ultramodern convention centres for public use in their capitals, the Odisha Government has approved a proposal to set up a state-of-the-art convention centre here at a project cost of Rs307 crore.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday cleared the project to be implemented by the State-run Idco. Idco CMD Vishal Dev had given the proposal for an ultramodern convention centre with a seating capacity of 4,000.
The project would be undertaken soon and completed in three years, said sources. Funds would be made available in the State Budget for the project on the lines of Mahatma Mandir, Gandhi Nagar, Gujarat which is a much bigger one having 6,000 seating capacity spread over 34 acres of land and coming up at a cost of Rs450 crore.
The Government of West Bengal is also setting up a convention centre with a seating capacity of 2,600 in Kolkata and the construction is undertaken by the NBCC at a cost of Rs450 crore.
With the funds constraints, the Odisha Government has agreed to allow the Idco to undertake construction of the project without the skywalk in the first phase. In the second phase, the skywalk would be added, which would cost Rs58 crore, said an official.
Earlier, it was planned to as a public-private partnership (PPP) project, but the IFC, the financial advisor of the project, observed that the project would not be viable unless the private developer is duly compensated for investment made, either directly or indirectly.
Taking the utility of the convention centre, the State Government decided to fund the project from its exchequer, officials said. An Implementation Committee headed by the Idco CMD has been formed to take up construction of the project in a time-bound manner.