Latest News | Goyal Asks for Time-bound Completion of International Convention Centre Project

New Delhi, Apr 20 (PTI) Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday directed officers and implementing agencies to expedite the work for the development of an international convention and exhibition centre in the national capital.

The India International Convention and Expo Centre (IICC), which is being developed at Dwarka Sector 25, will serve as a major economic driver, helping India capture a larger share of global market of hosting meetings, conferences and exhibitions, he said.

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"He directed the officers and implementing agencies to expedite the works for completion of the Phase-1 of the project in a time-bound manner," the commerce ministry said in a statement quoting Goyal.

Development of the IICC and supporting components will help India grab a bigger slice of the world market share of hosting major international events and exhibitions.

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It is expected that the centre will help increase India's share to around 13 per cent by 2024 and bring New Delhi in the league of Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore in the sphere of exhibition market, it said.

Within Asia, China accounted for more than 68 per cent (4.1 million square metre) of total available space for exhibition facilities.

India currently has only 0.3 million square metre of exhibition space, which accounts for just 4.9 per cent of Asia's share.

In terms of events hosted across Asian markets, Chinese venues take lead by hosting more than 515 (28 per cent) events in Asia annually, as compared to Indian venues hosting 131 events (7.1 per cent).

"In the absence of high-end world class exhibition and conference facilities, India has not benefited from the potential opportunities of this development," it added.

The IICC is a flagship project of the government, and is being developed to create a state-of-the-art and world class exhibition and convention centre to promote Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) activities in India.

The foundation stone for the project was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 20, 2018.

The project is planned over an area of 89.72 hectare at Dwarka Sector 25 here. It comprises a convention centre (to accommodate 11,000 persons), 5 exhibition halls, a one-kilometre foyer, a multi-purpose arena with retractable roof (to accommodate 20,000 persons), 3/4/5-star hotels, office space and commercial/retail space.

The project will be developed in two phases. Phase-I is being developed with a convention centre (60,000 square metre) and two exhibition halls (61,000 square metre) with an adjoining foyer and the entire trunk infrastructure of the project.

Construction of three more exhibition halls, arena, hotels, retail and office space are planned under Phase-II which will begin after the completion of the first phase.

A dedicated underground metro station, which is an extension of the Airport Express Metro, is being constructed by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) with funding from IICC Ltd.

Kinexin Convention Management Pvt Ltd, a consortium of Korea International Exhibition Centre (KINTEX) and eSang Networks Company Ltd, has been appointed as the operator for operating and managing the facility for 20 years.

During his visit, Goyal asked DMRC and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials for expediting the external connectivity works and complete the project in a time-bound manner.

"Once operational, IICC is expected to host more than 100 national and international events every year," the statement said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)