Bhubaneswar: The state government today said it was in the process of setting up a multi-purpose cultural complex under the Kalamandal project.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik while inaugurating the 9th Film Festival on Arts and Artists here said, "The state government is in the proces of taking up the Kalamandal project in order to create a platform for artists of all formats."
The much-hyped Kalamandal cultural complex project in the capital was so far hanging in balance with the state government entangled in a legal battle over land.
The state government's culture department had decided to set up a cultural complex under the Kalamandal project in Gajapati Nagar area here six years ago.
"A cultural complex is most required as the state capital does not have enough facilities to organise such programmes," said culture minister Ashok Panda.
"We will soon start the work on the Kalamandal project comprising auditorium, a state-of-the-art library, an art gallery and a sales centre of publications on Odisha's culture," he said.
Asked about the legal hurdles over the project, Panda said, "There is litigation over only three acres of land. We have seven acres to develop the cultural complex."
The state's General Administration Department had earlier provided 10 acres of land for the complex.
Both the state and the Centre would share the expenditure on fifty-fifty basis, Panda said, adding that the complex would also comprise two auditoriums- one indoor and another outdoor to accommodate two events simultaneously.