NASHIK: Nashik Municipal Corporation has come up with a plan to renovate the Dadasaheb Phalke Memorial on PPP (public private partnership) basis. Municipal Commissioner Kailas Jadhav has directed two qualified companies, namely ND Studio of senior film director Nitin Desai and Mantra Export to submit detailed project reports by December 6.
The renovation of the memorial is expected to cost Rs. 89 crore and a 25-year contract will be signed with the eligible company for the monument. In memory of Dadasaheb Phalke, the motion-picture director who is considered the father of the Indian cinema, a grand memorial has been erected on 29 acres of land at the foothills of Pandav Leni in 1998.
The memorial featured an open theater, park, cafeteria, display of items handled by Dadasaheb. But over time, the privatization of each of the services at the memorial damaged its image. Commissioner Jadhav has planned to develop this monument on the lines of Mumbai’s Film City.
For this, bids are invited to develop the memorial on a PPP basis. Mantra Export Pvt. Ltd. of Mumbai with Nitin Desai of ND Studios. Ltd. has shown its readiness to revive and renovate the memorial.
After the companies had submitted their preliminary proposals to the municipal commissioner a few days ago, the commissioner has directed the two shortlisted companies to submit detailed project reports by December 6.
