Present look of GIFT city

By Japan K Pathak, Ahmedabad, 5 January 2012

Last December, when I heard from my papa(a man devoted to textile industry) that India International Textile Machinery Exhibition (India-ITME) Society made an announcement to hold next ITME exhibition at GIFT city in Gujarat, I just couldn’t believe it. ITME, India’s one of the biggest industrial exhibitions is organized once in four years mostly in major cities. Last year it was organized in Mumbai, and before that in Bangalore. If they declared to hold next exhibition in GIFT city in Gujarat, it clearly reflected their great confidence in a new city, which is under construction at present.

Today when I visited GIFT city personally, I could gather more information on this.

I am happy to share with you the information that construction of a new exhibition center at GIFT city is going to kick off on January 10th itself. Gujarat Chief Minister Shri Narendra Modi who is scheduled to visit the GIFT city on 10th to inaugurate first two commercial buildings here( tallest in Gujarat ) will also lay stone for a new exhibition center at some distance away.

R.K. Jha, Director, Gujarat International Finance Tec-City Co. Ltd today told DeshGujarat that the exhibition center in GIFT city will come up over an area of 1,40,000 sq meter. Delhi’s Pragati maidan is standing over 70,000 sq meter land. Thus the GIFT city exhibition center will be the biggest in India, almost double the size of current biggest venue Pragati maidan.

According to Jha, the exhibition center will be constructed in two phases. The first phase construction of 36-40,000 sq meter world class exhibition/convention center structures will be completed within two years.