After getting a lukewarm response in the first two rounds of bidding, the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) will float a fresh global tender this month for the Uttar Pradesh government’s ambitious Film City project, officials privy to the development said.
A pre-bid meeting is likely to be held next week where a final decision on relaxing the terms of the tender will be taken.
The development comes after a high-level meeting of top officials in Lucknow on April 5 where the status of the proposed new Film City as well as the future course of action on the project was discussed.
In the meeting, a presentation on the current status was made and officials were informed that no online bids were received for developing the project in the second global tender, the deadline for which ended on March 31.
“We will again float a global tender to select a suitable entity to develop the 1,000-acre Film City. The tender will be floated before the end of this month where we are likely to relax bidding terms,” YEIDA CEO Arun Vir Singh told Moneycontrol on April 6.
He said that terms that are likely to be relaxed include doing away with the condition of 60 years-plus-30 years lease period instead the authority may decide on giving a lease of 90 years directly.
He said that some bidders who had shown interest in the project had reservations on this condition as they wanted a direct lease period of 90 years.
“These are the probable relaxations. However, any final decision on it will be taken in the PPP (public-private partnership) Evaluation Committee meeting next week,” Singh said.
He said that though the second global tender could not get any bidders online, four filmmakers have shown interest through the offline mode in developing the Film City.
“Filmmaker and actor Anil Kapoor, Rajpal Yadav, filmmaker KC Bokadia and Kailash Masum have shown interest and also inquired about the project. We are also considering this but any bidder will have to come through the proper channel and bid for the project,” he said.
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In the third global tender, YEIDA may decide on developing the project in a phased manner. Officials said that it might be difficult for a single entity to develop the project in one go so the authority may decide on developing it in two or three phases.
For instance, out of the 1,000-acre land parcel, the authority may decide on developing 500 or 400 acres in the first phase and the rest in other phases, officials said.
The new Film City is planned to be built in Sector 21 of YIEDA. It will be situated 6 km from the upcoming international airport in Jewar and 12 km from the Eastern Peripheral Expressway.
The first global tender for the project was floated on November 22, 2021. It was revised on August 27, 2022. On October 13, 2022, the Uttar Pradesh government approved the revised tender and the second request for proposal was published on October 17, 2022. The last date for the second global tender was March 31.