Pakistan’s Defence Export Promotion Organization (DEPO) aims to seek proposals for a project to build and operate an exhibitions and convention centre by the end of June, a senior official told Infralogic.

The transaction advisory consortium, led by Ernst & Young Ford Rhodes Consulting, is currently in the midst of technical, financial, legal and environmental studies, which are likely to be completed by the end of March, said Muhammad Danish, head of projects at Pakistan’s Public Private Partnership Authority.

The P3A is assisting DEPO in the transaction.

Since its inception in 2000 by then President Parvez Musharraf, the biennial International Defence Exhibition and Seminar has grown in size and draws over 50,000 visitors from more than 50 countries. Delegates to the event have a combined procurement budget running into the tens of billions of dollars, said Danish.

The project aims to deliver a purpose-built expo centre, said Danish, adding that the capacity and other details will be finalised once the feasibility reports are completed.