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DONA PAULA: PERFECT SHOOT
* Land for Rajiv Gandhi IT Habitat will now be handed over to a private player for building of convention centre
* The contract will be awarded to the company which promises the most share of revenue with the government
* The convention centre is expected to have a capacity of around 6,000 to 8,000 people to cater to big events
* The centre will also accomodate offices as well as screening theatres, a 100 room hotel
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An independent permanent venue will be in place for the 50th edition of IFFI which will be held in the year 2019. Goa has already been named as the permanent venue for IFFI
- Laxmikant Parsekar
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PANAJI: The Goa Cabinet cleared the transfer of more than 2-lakh square metres of prime land from InfoTech Corporation of Goa (ITG) to the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) for the purpose of setting up a convention centre, a venue primarily for the International Film Festival of India.
Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said that the land which was lying unused ever since the previous government’s failed attempts to set up a Rajiv Gandhi IT Habitat at Dona Paula, would now be handed over to a private player, after a due tender process, to set up the convention centre on PPP basis.
“An independent permanent venue will be in place for the 50th edition of IFFI which will be held in the year 2019. Goa has already been named as the permanent venue for IFFI,” Parsekar said.
He said that the contract will be awarded to the company which promises the most share of revenue with the government. “The contract will be on similar lines as that of the Mopa airport,” Parsekar said.
He said that the convention centre would have a capacity of around 6,000 to 8,000 people to cater to big events besides office space for offices of the ESG and the Directorate of Film Festivals of the Government of India as well as screening theatres, a 100 room hotel and the like. “It is prime land. It will not be difficult to get bidders for the facility,” Parsekar said.
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Casinos to stay
put at Mandovi
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ONE-YEAR BREATHER
* Licences of all casinos in River Mandovi extended for a period of one year till March 31 next year
* Permission for the casinos to remain but efforts to relocate casinos would continue, says CM
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The government of Goa has, through a cabinet resolution, extended the licences of all casinos in the River Mandovi for a period of one year till March 31 next year with little headway being made in their election promise to move them out of the River Mandovi.
Announcing this, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said that while the permission for the casinos to remain in the Mandovi would remain, efforts to have them relocated would continue.
“The casinos have been given one year extension to remain in the Mandovi till March 31, 2017 or until a feasible alternate site is found, whichever is earlier,” Parsekar said.
On August 28 last year, when the first of the casino licences was due to expire, the State government had taken a decision to allow ‘offshore’ casinos in the River Mandovi to continue up to March 2016.
Speaking to media persons after the cabinet meeting, Parsekar said that the decision was taken in view of the fact that facilities at such locations are not ready yet and also because of local opposition to these areas.
“We had identified four locations -- The river Zuari, the mouth of the Mandovi, Aguada Bay and the Chapora River. However all these locations were either not feasible, there was opposition from locals or requests from the employees to not shift the casinos as they might lose their jobs or travel long distances to the workplace,” Parsekar said.
“The efforts of the Captain of Ports will continue even as the government is exploring other options such as sending them to anchor in the high seas in a or simply ask them to shift and become land based ones,” Parsekar said.
The casinos were expected to move out after their licence period expires. The casinos had already given an undertaking that they are willing to shift provided the government given them an alternate location replete with infrastructure for their setting up.
The first casino licence was to expire on August 29 last year, i.e. that of M V Horseshoe run by the Deltin Group. The licence of MV Pride of Goa was due to expire on September 12, while that of MV Casino Royale is due to expire on October 23 and MV Boa Sorte on December 3 last year. Now all licences were first renewed till March 31, 2016 and on Thursday for one year.
Getting the casinos to move out of the Mandovi was one of the core promises of the BJP ahead of the 2012 elections promising to move them out and then chief minister Manohar Parrikar assuring to move them out before the end of his term.
