Floating restaurant to be ready by Dasara season in AP
Visakhapatnam: The floating restaurant being arranged on merchant vessel MV Maa will be thrown open for the public during this Dasara season, probably on October 12.
The ship had been abandoned by the Bangladesh Navy after a natural disaster. The joint venture between Shore and Ship Resorts and APTDC, the project costs Rs 30 crore. The first phase has been completed, the promoters said.
The vessel will have an open restaurant on the deck, an air-conditioned restaurant in the cargo area with a sky roof and additional facilities like sea-going yacht, cottages and water scooters.
“We are waiting for environmental clearances from the ministry of environment as the area falls under CRZ,’’ said Surender Singh Gill, promoter of Shore and Ship Resorts.
The agreement between Ship Resorts and APTDC was signed during the global investment summit held in Feb 2023. In the first phase, the ship and marine works were developed by Shore and Ship Resorts and infrastructure on the shoreside beach are put in place by APTDC.
As the project is close to popular tourist places like Tenneti Park and Kailasagiri Hills, a separate road and parking lots are being developed at Jodugullapalem beach to avoid traffic congestion, said an APTDC official.
“The abandoned ship will be an attractive tourist project. We have asked the developers to advance the opening date, so that it can cater to tourists visiting Vizag this winter season itself,” the official told DC on Thursday.
There was a lot of excitement in Visakhapatnam when the vessel ran aground at Tenneti Park on Oct 12, 2020. Thousands had lined up to view the ship and take pictures.
The 80-metre Bangladeshi vessel had been anchored in Visakhapatnam on September 19 in ballast condition to load 2,800 tonnes of quartzite for the Port of Mongla in Bangladesh. Due to strong winds at night on Oct 12, the vessel’s anchor chain snapped, the ship swayed and it ran aground near Tenneti Park.
The AP government later floated the idea of converting it into a floating restaurant.
The Telugu Desam government in its 2014-2019 term had made futile attempts to turn the decommissioned aircraft carrier INS Viraat as a major floating hotel.