A.P. Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu reviewed the activities of State Tourism Planning Board at a meeting held at the Secretariat on Saturday. The officials presented the Chief Minister with a master plan for the development of the three Shilparamams coming up in Vishakhapatnam, Guntur and Tirupati.
“The works related to the Shilparamams of Guntur, Vishakhapatnam and Tirupati will begin as a part of phase one and the prime purpose is to bring improvements to the brand Shilparamam so that revenue generations and operations are handled independently by Shilparamam”, said Mukesh Kumar Meena, Secretary (Tourism).
The Vishakhapatnam Shilparamam works have been divided into 3 phases and the project would be completed in the next 24 months. The Chief Minister was informed that the Vishakhapatnam unit will be having enhanced security with 160 rooms for accommodations, banquet hall, multipurpose function hall with a capacity of 1200 and a crafts bazaar which will have artworks by local artisans displayed across 30 stalls. This Shilparamam will also have a themed water park and an ice land to provide a sub zero degree experience to the visitors. This unit will be built up with an estimated cost of Rs. 30 crores and will be spread up over an area of 12.5 crores.
The Tirupati unit of Shilparamam will be spread across 6 zones which would have lightshow, amusement parks, craft exhibition, festival grounds, deluxe guest house and restaurants spread across them. The six zones would be constructed with an estimated cost of Rs.120.8 crores and the first phase of works will be completed by February 2019.
Briefing the Chief Minister on the works related to the Guntur Shilparamam, the officials said that the Guntur unit is divided into 3 zones with zone one being a flat land, zone two being a lake and zone three is an extension of the lake. The project has been designed by taking Undavalli Caves and Buddha Stupa as inspiration. The Guntur Shilparamam will also have all the state of the art facilities and will be spread across 12.25 acres and an estimated project cost of Rs.80 crores.
The Chief Minister was also informed of the plans to develop Pattiseema into a tourist hub. The project is divided into 5 zones which will all have special attractions such as arts and crafts, play area, go carting, food zone and golf course. The project will also provide resort like accommodation to the visitors for a peaceful and scenic stay.
Speaking to the officials on the need to have a vision, the Chief Minister said, “We are having excellent resources in the state and to provide them with more visibility, you must consult with the experts to understand the potential and specialty of each of the areas marked. We are focusing more on service sector and are trying to build 1 lakh rooms across the state and for that purpose the tourism has to develop.”
The Tourism Board officials informed the Chief Minister that 16.54 crore people visited AP last year which was an increase by 1.2 crores compared to the previous year. The state tourism had a growth rate of 15% which was third in the country and was 4% above the national average. He was also informed that last year 16 events were organized by tourism board which was attended by 16 lakh people and it had a reach of 20 crore through print and social media.
