If the territorial administration plays its cards right, Puducherry will soon bag a major tourism project, with the Singapore government evincing interest in developing a 100-acre site in Manapet.
The Singapore government has written to the Chief Minister, showing keen interest in making a huge investment at Manapet with the aim to promote leisure, adventure, heritage and MICE (meetings, incentives, conferencing and exhibitions) tourism in the 100 acres of land under the possession of the Tourism Department.
“The Singapore government has written to us showing a very keen interest in developing the land. They wanted to invest in the property through their subsidiary, Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC), which has high stakes in the tourism projects in the City-State. We are examining the proposal,” an official source told The Hindu.
The official said the Singapore government, through SDC, wanted to develop the land in partnership with an Indian firm.
“If the Singapore government wanted to start the tourism venture in partnership with the Union Territory administration, we would have gone ahead with the proposal after obtaining necessary clearance. But since a third party, an Indian company, was also involved, we need to go through the tendering process. We are examining the proposal in detail since it’s a major opportunity to utilise the land for some major tourism activity,” said an official.
SDC, a statutory board under the Ministry of Trade and Industry of the Singapore government, manages the highly successful Sentosa Island, which attracts thousands of tourists per day, said the official.
The plan proposed by the Singapore government was to develop the site into a major tourist attraction by having a five-star hotel, mega convention centre along the lines of ones in Europe, recreation centres for family, children and adventure sporting facilities and a helipad.
For the last several years, subsequent governments have made umpteen announcements, both inside the Assembly and out, about plans to develop the 100 acres of land into a Special Tourism Zone (STZ). The government had planned to set up an Oceanarium, film city and recreation centre, but these projects did not to take off due to lack of funding or delay in clearances.
Very recently, the Tourism Department had floated an expression of interest to select a consultant to develop the land for tourism projects, another official said.
