Dwarka Convention Center project remains on shelf even after six years

The proposed India’s largest International Convention and Exhibition Center (C&EC) of Delhi, has been kept on hold for over a year as the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) had refused to comply with instructions from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD).

The exhibition-cum-commercial center project spread across 144 hectares near New Delhi’s IGI Airport in Dwarka Sector 25 and Sector 26, was initially proposed around six years ago in 2007 and till now there is no clue of kick starting it.

As per the proposal, the complex will have 2 million sq ft of exhibition hall, a 6,000-seat convention center, commercial office space, an air cargo complex, a multi-purpose arena with a capacity of 18,000 peoples and 3,500 hotel rooms.

Earlier, the construction of the mega convention centre was handed over to DLF, which was the only bidder for the project during that time, but later got scrapped as the government was not ready to let the company seek a foreign equity partner for the project.

Later, the center decided to get the project developed by the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (DMICDC) instead of the DLF. While the DDA insisted that the land has to be transferred at commercial rates, the DMICDC alleged that the idea would be harmful to the project. Even after several meetings and promises made by the DDA, the issue still remains due. According to sources, the DMICDC is waiting for the urban development ministry to set the rate at which the land will be transferred to the state’s special purpose vehicle (SPV) from the DDA. Besides this, the development authority has to change the land use before it is transferred to the SPV.

The issue started in November 2010, when discussions began about starting a detailed techno-economic feasibility study by the DMICDC in consultation with DDA, during which it was discussed whether the facility should be split into two, so that one can be developed by the DDA and the other by the DMICDC. Following the completion of the study by the DMICDC and AECOM, the project started to work better and a decision was taken that the project would be developed as an integrated one by the DMICDC. And if needed, the project would be aided by the government’s viability-gap funding.

The DDA proposed for being given an equity share as it had contributed the land for the project, but however, no decision has been taken in this regard yet. In May 2012, the issue of land transfer to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) was discussed and it was decided to fix the price of land at the much lower government-to-government rates. It was decided that the DIPP would develop both parts of the project as an integrated one and that the land has to be be transferred to DIPP on government to government transfer policy . However, the issue did not end here. The decision of transferring land to DIPP on government rates was again echoed in September and October 2012 by the urban development ministry, which said that, the DDA prefers to develop the project by itself, and, if this is not allowed, then it will be an equity partner. The DDA also proposed to do away with the air cargo complex from the project.

After all these, the minister directed that the project has to be developed as an integrated one and the land would be transferred to the DIPP following the government-to-government transfer rules and a 15 days deadline was set for this.

In December 2012, the DDA agreed to transfer the land at government rates, but on a condition that the land should be used only for non-commercial purposes. And in case if the land shall be used for commercial purposes, then it should be auctioned as per the rules. Finally, it was decided that the urban affairs secretary shall resolve the matter. And by March 2013, it was scheduled that the PMO was planned to be informed of the project’s progress and by May 2013, the land was supposed to be transferred to DIPP within six weeks at government-to-government rates. But unfortunately, even after three months have passed, nothing has been done so far.