World’s 3rd largest convention centre coming up in Delhi

Delhi’s Dwarka region will soon have a massive Convention Centre, which is going to be Asia’s 2^nd largest state-of-the-art Convention Centre and the 3^rd largest in the world being designed with an objective to handle international conferences, exhibitions and trade shows so as to host summits of the level of G20 Summit and other such mega International events in the country.

Informs CP Kukreja, the architect for the Convention Centre named India International Convention and Expo Centre (IICC), the project is coming up on 225 acres of land, and will have a built up area of 1.6 crore sq. feet. The Convention Centre will have capacity to host 10000 people. It will have a LED Video Wall which will be the largest LED Façade ever built.

Informs Ishtiyaque Ahmed, Vice President at Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation Ltd. and the man currently responsible for the project: “India International Convention and Expo Centre (IICC) is being developed to achieve the vision of the Hon’ble Prime Minister to create a state-of-the-art and world class centre to promote MICE activities in India which will help in attracting and promoting business and industry in India.” The project has been planned at an estimated cost of Rs. 25,700 crores. Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has set up a 100% Government owned company – India International Convention and Exhibition Centre Limited (IICC Ltd.) which is implementing the project.

Ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation for the project in September this year, the work has already commenced in full-swing. On the occasion of the foundation-laying ceremony, Prime Minister Modi said “IICC would reflect India’s economic progress, rich cultural heritage, and our consciousness towards environment protection.”

“It is a part of the Government’s vision which gives importance to world class infrastructure, and ease of doing business,” the PM said. He further claimed that his Government has begun a series of unprecedented projects for the nation’s development and IICC was going to be one of such project. In this context, he mentioned the longest tunnel, the longest gas pipeline, the largest mobile manufacturing unit, and electricity to every household among many others. He said these are illustrations of the skill, scale and speed of New India.

The Prime Minister said that several countries across the world have developed elaborate capacities to hold conferences. He said this had not been thought of in India for a quite a while. Now this is changing, he added.

The facilities provided at the centre will be at par with  the best in the world in terms of size and quality, offering setting for international and national events, meetings, conferences, exhibitions and trade shows. The project is envisioned to be on a scale of a Central Business District with supporting retail, commercial and hospitality sectors. It would rank among  the top 5 in the World, top 3 in Asia and biggest in India in terms of indoor exhibition space when compared to the biggest facilities available at present. In addition to giving boost to business and industry it is also expected to generate over 5 lakh direct and indirect employment opportunities.

IICC will be an integrated complex with a host of mutually beneficial facilities like Exhibition Halls, Convention Centre (comprising Plenary Hall, Ball Room and Meeting Rooms), a multi-purpose Arena, Open Exhibition spaces, mixed use commercial spaces like Star Hotels (5, 4 and 3 star), Retail services and high-end offices.

The facilities will be designed with sustainable approaches in planning and design, transformation, alternative energy production, energy conservation, water resource management, solid waste management, efficient land use, eco-friendly building design to create cost-effective and measurable savings for the project. The construction will be in line with green building principles and Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) Platinum rating standards.

Over 40% of the area is planned to be developed as open/green area with a total built up area of 10.70 lakh square metres comprising of Convention Centre (60000 sq metres to accommodate 10000 persons), Exhibition Halls (About 2.56 lakh sq metres), Foyer (61000 sq metres), multi-purpose Arena with retractable roof (50000 sq metres to accommodate 20000 persons), Hotels (about 2.82 lakh sq metres with 3500+ rooms), office space (about 2.30 lakh sq m) and retail space (About  1.30 lakh sq. m).

The project will be developed in two phases. Phase-I will be completed by December, 2019 with a Convention Centre (60000 sq metres) and two Exhibition Halls (60000 sq. metres) with adjoining Foyer and related support facilities. Phase-II will be completed by December 2024 with construction of 3 Exhibition Complexes, Arena, Metro connectivity, Hotels, Retail and Office space. The project complex will have a dedicated underground Metro station which will be an extension of the Airport High Speed Metro Corridot and is being constructed by Direct Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

Says Sandip Das, Director and the man responsible for the events organized by TPCI: “It is a moment of pride that such extensive facilities are being planned in India. It will now be possible to hold international level conferences in the heart of India.”