Orissa to review status of Shamuka tourism project soon

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After getting a rather lukewarm response to the bids which it had invited for its showpiece Shamuka tourism project in Puri, the state government has now decided to revise some provisions and modalities to make the project attractive and commercially viable.

The state Chief Secretary T K Mishra will conduct a high-level review meeting on the project by the end of this month in the presence of tourism secretary, Mona Sharma.

“Though quite a lot of bidders had evinced interest when the bids were opened for the Shamuka tourism project, none of them turned up during the final bidding process. The developers even did not turn up when we invited had them in January this year. The status of the project will be reviewed later this month and the modalities will be altered to make it a commercially viable proposition”, Sharma told Business Standard. On land acquisition for the project, she said, around 960 acres of land has already been acquired and the process is underway.

The Rs 3500-crore Shamuka tourism project needs 2500-3000 acres of land in all and the land acquisition is being done in phases. The project is being developed near Sipasarubali, about 10 km south of Puri on the public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

The state government, which has already acquired 960 acres of land for the project in the first phase, has now set in motion the process to acquire 626 acres of land for the second phase. The process of acquisition is expected to be completed by the end of 2010.

About 90 per cent of the amount for acquisition of 626 acres of land has been deposited with the district collector of Puri. Following this the Orissa Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) will invite fresh bids for this mega tourism project. The process of rebidding has been necessitated due to the lackluster response to the bidding held last year.

It may be noted that only three hotel chains had participated in the final bidding for developing the four five star hotels on 100 acres of land. Owing to the lukewarm response to the bidding, the Orissa government had decided to change the provisions in the bid document before going for the fresh bidding process.The state government had engaged global consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to incorporate some new provisions in the bid document so as to make it investor friendly. PwC had submitted the revised bid document to the state government in October 2009 and it needed to be approved by the state government. The state tourism department is planning to launch campaigns both within the country and in some select overseas destinations to attract investors for this tourism project, the source added. The state government is investing Rs 50-70 crore on providing external infrastructure like electricity and water supply for the five-star hotel properties.

Apart from the four five star hotels, the Shmauka tourism project would have facilities like a convention centre of international standards with a seating capacity of nearly 1,500, an 18-hole golf course, boutique hotels, international spa and wellness centres, an entertainment zone and sports facilities.