Team Goemkarponn
CANACONA: With Vishwajeet Warik back as President and return of Attorney Bhushan Prabhugaonkar (Ex-village Sarpanch) at the helm of affairs of Loliem-Polem Communidade, strongly backed by ruling panel of village Panchayat body, ESG in full gears, with the Government all for it, ‘The Film City of Goa at Bhagwati Plateau in Loliem-Polem’, is no more a mere dream, but has become a reality in Canacona. To add additional weightage the local Canacona MLA and Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar is on record that a Film city is coming up at Loliem-Polem panchayat area, which would give a boost not only to the infrastructural development, but will give a massive impectus to to generate employments to the constituents than anything else.
As reported, the Goa government is expected to finalise the much-awaited 99-year lease agreement with the Loliem Comunidade this month itself to set up the coastal State’s first Film city.
As if to add more weightage, Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) Vice-Chairperson Delilah Lobo confirmed that the agreement is nearing completion after a few modifcations which are requested by the comunidade. “The lease agreement has not been signed yet but it should be done this month. We are in the final stages of the process. The delay occurred as the comunidade requested some changes, which we are incorporating. Once finalised, the document will be sent back to them for approval. Subsequently the agreement will be signed,” Lobo had said. This is further re-confirmed by the Loliem-Polem communidade unanimously re-elected president Vishwajeet Varik while speraking this correspondent.
The initiative to set up a film city was first announced in 2023, after which in October, ESG issued advertisements in local newspapers seeking 250 acres of land with clear titles for the project. Setting aside the opposition raised by locals and Green activists, the following month, after receiving a letter of interest from the Loliem-polem Comunidade, ESG engaged Resurgent India Ltd – an investment banking firm – to provide transaction advisory services for the film city’s development. The project has been described as a long-cherished vision of former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, which the late Defence Minister envisaged after the success of IFFI in Goa, was however lying in the deep freezer as oppositions were growing for every developments announced by the government , the prime example being IIT-Goa campus which is still going around the State to find suitable place.
It is learnt that Social Welfare Minister SubhashPhaldessai, during his tenure as ESG Vice-Chairman, first proposed the idea, and sometime later had even visited Bhagwati plateau which were met with strong opposition.
Although specific details of the project are yet to be revealed, comunidade members had then stated that the proposed film city at Loliem would include facilities such as pre-production and post-production studios, shooting locations, VFX and CGI studios, backlots, a film school, event venues, accommodation for crews and actors and commercial spaces. Speaking at the inaugural of the International Film Festival of India 2023, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant assured the flmmakers and actors that the government is committed to completing the project promptly. “The State is committed to fast-tracking procedures and ensuring the project is completed within a time-bound framework,” he was quoted as saying. The Loliem Comunidade, a traditional governing body of local gaunkars primarily from the landed Brahmin community, approved the transfer of 250 acres on a 99-year lease for the project, which the government claimed will position Goa as a hub for the entertainment industry.
