Construction of biggest exhibition centre reaches final stage

By Kapil Gyawali,Siddarthanagar, Dec. 20: Construction of the International Exhibition Centre being built in the west side of Butwal International Convention Centre has reached the final phase.  The Exhibition Centre, being built  under the Ministry of Urban Development at a cost of Rs. 1.02 billion, is claimed to be the largest governmental exhibition  centre in Nepal. 

It spreads in an area of over 6.4 bighas of land. Almost 72 per cent of the construction work has been completed, according to Ram Kumar Thapa of the construction company, Capital Infra Projects-Gauri Parvati JV Company.   

Similarly, a large exhibition hall, two meeting halls, an administrative building, cafeteria, ticket counter and garden have been constructed on the premises of the convention centre.  The exhibition hall that spreads in over 12,000 square metres has a capacity to hold 350 stalls of four square metres. Likewise, one meeting hall is built in an area of 300 square metres and the other in an area of 200 square metres. 

The exhibition centre is designed in a way that it looks like to have three buildings from outside but can be separated according to the needs from inside. Thapa informed that the exhibition centre has a capacity to hold 800 stalls and 20,000 people at one time.

He said that the centre would be handed over as soon as the construction work is completed. An exhibition ‘National Industrial, Agricultural and Tourism Festival’ is going to be held in the new exhibition centre from December 22, he added. 

Butwal Chamber of Commerce & Industry chairman Ujjwal Kasaju informed that Butwal Sub Metropolitan City, Rupandehi Industry Association, Butwal Industry and Commerce Association and Rupandehi Business Association each had iinvested Rs. 500,000  in the initial phase for the construction of the compound wall of the centre. 

Butwal Sub Metropolitan City Mayor Khelraj Pandey said that the Sub-Metropolitan City had also proposed to name the centre as Girija Prasad Koirala Butwal Mandap. He added that they had worked to manage a land for a permanent convention hall at the time when late Girija Prasad Koirala was serving as a Prime Minister. 

Former Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel had laid the foundation stone of the exhibition centre on May 27, 2019. The construction company was contracted to complete the construction within 27 months at the time. But after the renewal of the contract, the company is working to hand over the centre within July 2023.

Exhibition in temporary structure The industrialists are seen excited to hold an exhibition at the largest exhibition centre in Butwal after the construction work of the centre has reached its final stage. 

Rupandehi Industry Association had organised an industrial exhibition in Butwal, first outside Kathmandu in 1988. Even before the establishment of a permanent centre, Rupandehi Industry Association, Butwal Industry and Commerce Association and Rupandehi Trade Association have been organising industrial exhibitions and trade fairs alternately every year at the place.

Madhav Paudel, chairman of Rupandehi Industry Association, said that preparations for the exhibition from December 22 this yera to January 3 next year  with the slogan of 'The basis of building a prosperous Nepal, expansion of indigenous entrepreneurship' have been completed.  Organisers of the exhibition are expecting 600,000 visitors in the exhibition and a financial turnover of Rs. 300 million.