KOCHI: Industries Minister P Rajeeve will lay the foundation stone for the first International Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre at Kakkanad at 4.30pm on Thursday. Thrikkakara MLA Uma Thomas will preside over the function. The project is being implemented in a 10-acre plot at Kakkanad by Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Kinfra) spending `90 crore.
According to the Kinfra, the exhibition centre will serve as a destination for public gatherings, conventions, exhibitions, industrial promotions, art and crafts and trade fairs. It will be comparable to global exhibition centres for operational efficiency, architecture, layout, interior design, acoustics and other supporting facilities. The convention centre is envisaged to be a facility for high-end government-to-government, business-to-business and business-to-customer meetings, said an official.
The covered exhibition hall will be a single-storey building with provisions for an entry porch and six exhibition halls. It can accommodate 24 exhibition stalls, two back offices, two registration counters and passages. The building which will be constructed in a symmetrical manner will have a 4,804.5 sq m built-up area.
The convention centre will have a seating capacity of 662 people while the dining hall will accommodate 300 people. There will be a cafeteria with a seating capacity of 28. Thrikkakara municipal chairperson Ajitha Thankappan, Industries Department principal secretaries A P M Mohammed Haneesh and Suman Billa, Kinfra managing director Santhosh Koshy Varghese and general manager T B Ambili will attend the function.