Live
- Govt gets 7 bids under PLI for battery mfg units
- PSBs can’t issue lookout circulars
- 41 candidates file nominations in Nellore district
- K’taka, Gujarat top States in clean energy transition
- Lord Rama Brahmothsavalu concluded on grand note
- Meta Unveils Ray-Ban Smart Glasses Update for WhatsApp Video Calls
- Barrelakka files nomination as Nagarkurnool candidate
- BRS chief KCR to Embark on Bus Yatra Ahead of Parliamentary Elections from today
- Congress still undecided
- All-time highest score by Narayana student in AP SSC results
Eros entertainment City may not happen
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s dream of making Vizag the best entertainment city in India after signing an MoU with the UK-based company Eros Investment Limited, may not come true. The MoU was signed between Special Chief Secretary (tourism) Chandana Khan representing the AP government and Subodh Agrawal of EIL on November 22 last year, 40 days after the Hudhud devastated the city.
Viskahapatnam: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s dream of making Vizag the best entertainment city in India after signing an MoU with the UK-based company Eros Investment Limited, may not come true. The MoU was signed between Special Chief Secretary (tourism) Chandana Khan representing the AP government and Subodh Agrawal of EIL on November 22 last year, 40 days after the Hudhud devastated the city.
Planned to be a special purpose vehicle India Entertainment City, estimated to lost Rs 40,000 crore envisaged a separate beach front city with complete production, pre-production and post-production facilities for film, TV and the advertising industry; a Bollywood-themed amusement park; commercial and residential options; hotels, leisure and healthcare facilities form part of the project.
Now six months have passed since the MoU was signed and there is no sign of any development or any word from the district administration or the local minister on the ambitious project. The company wanted a huge chunk of land on the beach front measuring at least 2,000 acres in the first phase as per the initial reports. But revenue department could identify only 1,750 acres of land in Kapulauppada which is now being used as garbage dump.
While this particular land was being shown to the EIL, the minister for HRD Ganta Srinivasa Rao recently announced that a 18-hole golf course would come up on this land after shifting the garbage yard. Now, the EIL is left with only 400 acres of land located in Yarada, which might not to be enough for the mega tourism project.
District Collector N Yuvaraj told this correspondent on Thursday that he did not receive any copy of the MoU signed between the APTDC CMD and EIL representatives so far. “Even no agency in the government has asked us to identify the land for the entertainment city,’’ Yuvraj clarified. The Collector said that the EIL could approach private parties directly and request the district administration to act as facilitators.
“If they want government land, they have to approach AP Film Development Corporation,” he said. With the project not even taking off the initial stage, it could be presumed that the entertainment city is just a pipe dream of the Chief Minister.
By:KMP Patnaik
