INS Viraat Museum — the ambitious project being undertaken by the Andhra Pradesh government in recent times — seems to be more than a handful with the State government deciding to put on hold for the time being the proposed Special Tourism Zone (STZ) at Bheemunipatnam, shifting its focus on setting up the museum project.
Speaking to The Hindu , Executive Director of AP Tourism Development Corporation R. Sreeramulu Naidu said, “The invitation for Request for Proposal (RfP) for STZ was earlier issued, but has been put on hold for the moment, as the focus is completely on the INS Viraat project at the proposed berthing site at Bheemunipatnam. Two consultants have bid for the tender and submitted their presentations for the Viraat project to the AP Tourism officials at Vijayawada on Tuesday.”
The RfP for preparation of the detailed project report (DPR) was floated in April for refurbishment and conversion of the 24,000-tonne world’s oldest aircraft carrier into a major tourist destination. “The 500 acres area identified for the Special Tourism Zone in Bheeminupatnam will include the INS Viraat project,” Mr. Naidu added.
The State government has been pursuing with the Ministry of Defence and the Indian Navy to handover the decommissioned aircraft carrier to it for converting into a floating hotel. While contradictory reports surfaced suggesting the shelving of the project due to the abnormally high maintenance cost of the floating behemoth, the latest developments seem to suggest that the Andhra Pradesh government’s INS Viraat project is very much alive.
Earlier, Principal Secretary of Tourism N. Srikanth confirmed a secretary level meeting on the issue in Delhi and that Visakhapatnam would be the final destination of the former aircraft carrier.
The Navy had emphasised that the ship could not be dragged on to the land and had to be kept afloat. As part of the Sagarmala project, the construction of few jetties near the creek in Bheemunipatnam will come up. However, with the length of INS Viraat being about 228 metres, officials pointed out that there was a need to build a jetty of that size. Sources in the Central and the State government indicated that for the financial feasibility of the maintenance of the ship, it needed to have at least 15 viable projects with many value-added features like golf course on the deck, speciality restaurants and adventure options to make the project viable.
