The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : Construction of pavilion begins for Ocean Race

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Friday, Nov 21, 2008
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Construction of pavilion begins for Ocean Race

Staff Reporter

A team from De Boer is erecting the hospitality pavilion for Volvo

Getting ready: Work in progress at Volvo Ocean race village.

KOCHI: Construction of the Volvo pavilion for the Volvo Ocean Race stopover here next month began on Thursday after the arrival of the De Boer team.

De Boer, a major international temporary structure supplier, is providing two specially-prepared VIP hospitality pavilions for the main sponsor Volvo that will follow the race around the world.

The Volvo Ocean Race set off from Alicante in Spain on October 4 and will visit 11 international ports before concluding in June next year.

Ahead of the stopover, a team from De Boer travels to each of the stopover ports to erect its popular Emperor structure as a hospitality pavilion for Volvo.

The unique temporary structure consists of wooden and aluminium elements, said a statement from Cochin Port Trust here.

The exhibition will start on December 2 and will be open to the public.

Meanwhile, on the race front Ericsson 4, skippered by Torben Grael, continued to lead and was the first to the scoring gate at longitudinal 58 degrees east on the second leg of the Race 2008-09, said a press statement. Anders Lewander’s Ericsson 3 followed to pick up 3.5 points. Green Dragon, Team Russia and the Telefonica twins are fighting for the remaining positions as PUMA continued to sail slow due to structural damage.

Tourists

Organisers of the Volvo Ocean Race stopover here are expecting that around 10,000 foreign tourists will reach Kochi, majority of them in cruise vessels and by flights, during the period.

Preparations are on to receive such a big inflow of tourists.

A statement from the Cochin Port Trust said that Kerala Tourism Development Corporation Chairman Cherian Philip and Port Trust Chairman N. Ramachandran reviewed the preparations.

The press release quoted Mr. Philip as saying that the Volvo Ocean Race stopover would transform Kochi into the country’s tourism gateway. This will be a boost to the upcoming Marina project too.

Hundreds of yachts are expected to berth here in the coming years, said Mr. Philip.

Apart from foreign visitors, thousands of tourists from other parts of the country are also expected to reach Kochi during the stopover period. Public will be allowed free entry into the Volvo Ocean Race village. Schools and educational institutions planning to bring students for conducted tours to the Race Village may contact the Port officers. Phone: 94477 59018; email: visit@cochinoceanrace.com.

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