If every thing goes well as per the plan conceptualised by the Punjab government, Mohali might turn into a trade expo hub in the near future. The state government is mulling the idea of setting up a state-of-the-art international convention centre spread over 60 acres of land, near the Mohali International Airport, on the lines of Greater Noida.
There is no international convention centre to the north of Delhi and the Mohali project is considered to be one of the most ambitious projects of the Punjab government, especially in view of the upcoming international Airport in Mohali.
A first of its kind in North India, the convention centre will have a capacity of over 5,000 seats and the hotel is expected to have an accomodation of at least 300 rooms. The proposed project will have International convention and exhibition centre with a seating capacity of 4,000 along with commercial area, service apartments. Besides that, covered and uncovered spaces for exposition, conference hall, hotel, resorts, exporter offices, parking spaces.
Sarvjit Singh, chief administrator, Greater Mohali Area Development Authority(GMADA), told Business Standard informed that looking at the increase in trade and commerce in the region, the government will set up a permanent convention centre like Greater Noida so that local industry can showcase their products and at the same time MNCs and other Industry from across the world can participate in the expo.
He said, “The land has already been acquired for the convention centre, which is a part of existing Knowledge City. Also, GMADA has given a mandate to Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB) for the development of convention centre. According to them , the PIDB will hire a consultant for the project and would ask them to conduct a feasibility study of the project.”
Although the mode of the project is yet to be decided, but insiders mentioned that it may be developed on a design-build-operate-transfer basis (DBOT) with private sector participation.
Further, the setting up of the convention centre will help in further capitalising the vast entrepreneurial spirit of the region by providing a single platform to showcase Indian goods and products at the national as well as on the international level.
The expo would render an integrated approach to serve as a generator of economic growth and development of Mohali in particular and to help achieve the overall economic development objectives. It would also help put Mohali on the international tourism radar, as the Airport is also coming up in its vicnity.
The convention centre offers vast opportunity to the entrepreneurs, importers, and exporters to form a network with their fellow counterparts both within and outside India while having direct exposure and interaction with their prospective customers to take their business to newer heights.
