And the mega project goes to8230;

According to documents in possession of The Indian Express procured under the Right to Information Act by activist Vivek Aditya, the UT Administration had allotted 73 acres of land on revenue-sharing basis to Unitech, a property developer, in December 2006 for 33 years even though another real-estate giant DLF had offered 13 times more revenue to the Administration. While DLF had offered a 13.5 per cent share of its revenue to the UT Administration, the authorities chose Unitech, which had offered only 1.1 per cent of the revenue in return.

Aditya has sought a probe from the Administration over the questionable allotment of the chunk of prime land. The complaint has been marked to UT Adviser Pradip Mehra and to the Central Vigilance Commission.

The documents reveal that after DLF was shortlisted among the final three applicants for the project, its bid was unceremoniously dropped at the eleventh hour two hours before the last financial bid was to be opened. On the day October 26, 2006, the Chandigarh Administration sent a fax to DLF informing them that 8220;their financial bid will not be opened as their main partner company is just a sub-consultant8221;.

In March 2006, UT Administrator General S F Rodrigues retd approved the proposed project, keeping three conditions for the participating companies. First, the company should have the experience of setting up at least one similar project in India or abroad. Second, an annual turnover of at least Rs 100 crore in the last three years. Third, the capacity to invest at least Rs 50 crore in the project within one year.

The project was conceptualised as a joint venture of the private developer and the UT Administration. Expressions of Interest were invited for the project with a deadline of 21 days.

On March 30, 2006, in a meeting headed by the then Adviser to UT Administrator Lalit Sharma, the setting up of a joint venture company was deemed 8220;not necessary8221;. Revenue sharing, however, was kept as one of the top criterions as stated by the minutes of the meeting in possession of The Indian Express 8212; 8220;allotting the land on lease basis for 33 years to the highest bidder from among the eligible companies and adding a revenue sharing component in the allotment terms and conditions8221;.

The 8216;best alternative8217; suggested in the meeting was 8220;calling bids for annual revenue sharing percentage in addition to the license fee per annum, which could be fixed at Rs 3 crore per annum. In that case, the ownership of the land would remain with the Administration. The Administration would earn fixed revenue from the project through the annual license fee plus an annual variable component annual percentage of revenue share which would probably go on increasing8221;. The last date of receiving applications was April 28, 2006, and the date for the pre-bid conference was April 19.

Of the bids received, three applicants 8212; Unitech Limited; DLF Limited and Pantaloon Limited 8212; were shortlisted by the high-level committee. Companies like EMMAR/MGF Limited; Writers and Publishers Limited; Parsvnath and Appu Ghar were dropped. Unitech was finally selected in December 2006 and an agreement was signed between the UT Administration and Unitech for the theme-park project.

Former Director Tourism Vivek Atray and the officers who dealt with the project refused to comment on the issue.

Anatomy of the project
The total estimated investment is over Rs 1,000 crore with around Rs 600-750 crore to be invested in the first phase.
Popular characters from Pogo and Cartoon Network are expected to entertain children in amphitheatres and indoor and outdoor food courts
Euro pools from Scotland to be established in a 15-acre water park with wave pools, water rafts, high thrill rides and an artificial river.
Night shows in the water park, water screen projections and joy rides
A budget hotel, to come up on around 15 acres, housing retail stores and shopping malls