Convention Centre Gets Govt Green Signal

Savio Rodrigues - Mumbai

The Kerala state government has given Greater Cochin Development Corporation (GCDA) the green signal to work out development plans for a new convention centre to be constructed near Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi.
According to T Balakrishnan, secretary to government, tourism, government of Kerala,”To make Kochi a sought-after convention destination, the government has appointed GCDA to work on the project.”

The GCDA will either develop the project through a joint venture with domestic and multinational companies, or hand over the project on long lease to companies looking at managing the convention centre.

The government anticipates the project to be ready by mid 2006. The cost of the project would only be revealed after the finalisation of development plans by the state government, sources revealed.

The new convention centre will be the city’s second, after the soon-to-launch Le Meridien Convention Centre. Similarly, the Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) has also mooted the possibility of a convention centre along with five- and three-star hotels in the vacant 165 acre at Cochin International Airport. The CIAL project is however still at a planning stage and a feasibility study is awaited.