There is good news for water sports enthusiasts.
Efforts are under way to add 120 new boats, including kayaks, pedal boats, motorboats, outboard boats and water scooters in boathouses operated by the Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC).
The TTDC recently floated tenders for acquiring 120 boats, including five single-seater kayaks, five double-seater kayaks, 27 two-seater pedal boats, 35 four-seater pedal boats, six four-seater row boats, six eight-seater motor boats, two 15-seater motor boats, eight 15 HP outboard motorboats, four high-speed water scooters and two four-seater speed boats.
The new boats would be added to the fleet or in some cases replace the existing boats at seven boathouses being operated by the TTDC across the State — Udhagamandalam (40 boats), Kodaikanal (30), Mudaliarkuppam (19), Muttukadu (17), Yercaud (five), Pitchavaram (five) and Pykara (four).
The boats are to be acquired with assistance from the Asian Development Bank (ADB)’s Infrastructure Development Investment Programme for Tourism Project. As per the agreement, ADB would finance 70% and the State government would finance 30% of the project.
According to the tender document, some of the existing boats have been operated beyond their life at many boat houses and there were not adequate boats to handle the holiday and weekend crowd. Of the five wooden row boats in Yercaud Boat House, three were “damaged during the flood relief operations at Chennai in 2015.”
More ferries
The Tourism Department has also floated another tender for acquiring two ferries (a 150-seater and a 75-seater) to be operated in Kanniyakumari to take tourists from the mainland to the Vivekananda Memorial Rock and the iconic Tiruvalluvar statue. The number of tourists visiting Kanniyakumari has increased and had to wait in long queues to board the ferries. During peak seasons, thousands return without visiting Vivekananda Memorial Rock and the Tiruvalluvar statue.
