Vizag soon to have a tourism zone

The state government has proposed to set up a tourism city or state tourism zone in Visakhapatnam with an aim to attract more tourists from foreign lands. The tourism department has reportedly sought more than 500 acres of land from the district administration along the beach to accommodate water sports, yachts, cruise terminal, marina, convention centers, hotels, amusement parks, entertainment zones and residential zones etc. The state government of Andhra Pradesh initially proposed the tourism city to come up at Amaravati but later opted for Visakhapatnam.

The district administration has identified around five land parcels along the beach and they are Bangarammapalem and Revupolavaram in S Rayavaram mandal, Pudimadaka in Achutapuram mandal, Mutyalammapalem in Paravada mandal, Appikonda in Pedagantyada mandal, Mulakuddu and Annavaram villages in Bheemili mandal. Where the state falls short of land, it will go for land acquisition. RITES will soon perform a technical survey which has been appointed as the consultant company by the state government.

District collector Pravin Kumar said,” As per the tourism department instructions, we have identified few places on the beach front in the district. We do not have huge chunk of land at one place, so we need to acquire it. If the proposal materializes, then the port city would permanently become a hub for tourists”.

The Bangarammapalem-Revupolavaram parcel- where the district administration is developing a beach has 203 acres of government land. Another 435 acres of private land lies right adjacent to it but the naval alternate operational base (NAOB) is situated close to this area and the state government would require permission from the union defense ministry to use this parcel as a tourist hub. The government has more than 350 acres of land At Pudimadaka in Achutapuram  and another 200 acres is privately owned and both the land parcels are around 60 to 80 km distance from Visakhapatnam. Mutyalammapalem in Paravada has around 270 acres of government land and 700 acres owned by private parties. The collector said,”Behind Visakha Steel Plant [at Appikonda] more than 500 acres of government land is available. Apart from this, the government has some forest land between Mulakuddu and Annavaram in Bheemili mandal”.

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