In Pics: Noida’s Film City Project failed to attract bidders; Know project details | CPT PPP Coverage

The Noida Film City project is expected to come up in Sector 21, off the Yamuna Expressway in Greater Noida. Nearly 1,000 acres of land have been identified for the ambitious project. It is located about six kilometres from the upcoming international airport in Jewar and 12 kilometres from the Eastern Peripheral Expressway. The objective is to provide an integrated media infrastructure for the entire value chain of film pre-production, film tourism and post-production. The proposed Rs 10,000-crore project in Greater Noida has failed to attract bidders probably on account of the huge investment requirement and stringent bidding terms.

A few filmmakers who have evinced interest in the project include Anil Kapoor, KC Bokadia, Rajpal Yadav and Kailash Masoom.

On September 2020, the announcement of the International Film City along Yamuna Expressway was made in September 2020. In December 2020, property consultant CBRE South Asia was selected for making the Detailed Project Report. The first global tender for the film city was floated on November 22, 2021. The second global tender was issued on October 17, 2022. The deadline for this was extended up to February 14, 2023 and then February 28, 2023 and then to March 31, 2023. No bids have been received for these two tenders. 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 in April 2023 for the Uttar Pradesh government’s ambitious Film City project where the bidding terms are expected to be relaxed.

The Film City is expected to come up in Sector 21, off the Yamuna Expressway. It is located barely 6 km from the upcoming Noida International Airport in Jewar. Its distance from Eastern Peripheral Expressway is 12 km.

The proposed Film City is expected to have studios and sets for shooting films, pre-production and post-production facilities. It is expected to have creative media art production, music dubbing studios, editing studios, VFX studios, premiere arenas, film festival arenas and special effects studios. It may also comprise a film museum and a theme park besides hotels, retail and commercial offices.

There have been no takers for the bid despite extensions. Firms have not come forward on account of high cost of Rs 10,000 crore. There’s also a condition with regard to the lease period that is for a period of 60 years to be extended by another 30 years. Bidders who had shown interest in the project had reservations on this condition as they wanted a direct lease period of 90 years. Under the present conditions, applicants should also have a minimum net of Rs 1805 crore at the close of three financial years.

YEIDA is planning to commission the project in three phases and plans to divide the plot into smaller fragments. The first two phases may involve building the project on 400 acres and the third on 200 acres. It also plans to issue separate tenders over 10 years and intends selecting a separate firm for each. It may also consider a direct lease period of 90 years.