German company to manage B'lore Intl Exhibition Centre

The Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers' Association (IMTMA) has tied up with Deutsche Messe AG to market and manage the 'Bangalore International Exhibition Centre' (BIEC), which is under construction near Peenya.

IMTMA is the promoter of the 40-acre green exhibition complex, which has a budget of Rs 120 crore. Deutsche Messe are the owners of the world's largest exhibition facility in Hannover, Germany, and are well-known for hosting numerous industrial expos in Europe.

Addressing a press conference here on Monday, J N Godrej, chairman of BIEC and exhibitions - IMTMA, said the tie-up was for five years and during that time the German company will organise exhibitions at BIEC, promote the centre globally and offer technical support for management.

"Deutsche Messe will also extend support to IMTMA in the form of training personnel, software and know-how for handling exhibition requirements, logistics, and fair facilities," he added.

BIEC is to be opened with Imtex-2007 (Indian machine tool exhibition with international participation) and ToolTech 2007 (exhibition of cutting tools, tooling systems, machine tool accessories, metrology and CAD/CAM) in January 2007.

Of the total project cost of Rs 120 crore, IMTMA has contributed Rs 40 crore, while term loan from Exim Bank is Rs 40 crore plus bridge loan of Rs 10 crore, besides Centre's contribution of Rs 30 crore (which also includes creating social and physical infrastructure at Peenya Industrial estate)

According to Sharukh Mistry of Mistry Architects, BIEC has been designed and is being built as a green project. Environmental issues were of prime concern while designing the project components.

The natural contour of land has been retained, and 50 per cent fly ash is being used in concrete mixture in the 80 per cent of the structure, avoiding CFC totally, apart from going in for extensive rainwater harvesting and zero discharge of waste water.

BIEC will have an exhibition area of 40,000 square metres, conference facility of 5,600 square metres with seating capacities for 1,500, 750, 200 and 120. As for the other support facilities, the centre will have a huge food court which will cater to a large volume of visitors and exhibitors. Around 35,000 square metres has been earmarked for parking 1,000 cars and infrastructure is being created for 10 mw power.

C P Rangachar, president-IMTMA, said BIEC being a multi-purpose facility for exhibitions, product demonstrations, international seminars and summits, would also help IMTMA earn substantial sums by renting out the facility to other sectors.