30 places in Punjab to be made tourism, cultural hubs: Sidhu

The Punjab government has chalked out a road-map to transform and develop 30 places in the state as tourism and cultural hubs, state minister Navjot Singh Sidhu said today.

Thirty places of significance in the state would be developed as world-class tourism spots and Rs 590.97 crore would be spent to ensure Punjab emerges as a big player in the global tourism sector, he said here.

Projects under various schemes have been chalked out to develop these places as centres of excellence from the point of view of tourism, Sidhu said.

He said the holy city of Amritsar would be the centre of attraction in terms of tourism as 11 out of the 30 places are in and around it.

These projects would come to fruition within a year and have facilities such as landscaping, restaurants, parking and toilets for the convenience of tourists, Sidhu said.

The Punjab Tourism Minister said out of the Rs 590.97 crore, Rs 344 crore is loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the sanction for which has been granted.

Besides this, the sanction pertaining to Rs 96.97 crore for the revamp of religious and historical cities, in accordance with the Centre's Swadesh Darshan Scheme, has also been accorded, he said.

The process to release this amount is in the final stages.

For Amritsar Rs 50 crore would be spent under the Prasad scheme , he said.

Sidhu said a project of Rs 100 crore has been prepared under Mughal Circuit. It aims at developing historical spots in the state connected with the Mughal rule, he said.

The total cost of the project is Rs 590.97 crore, and after this gets completed, another project worth Rs 100 crore under the Maharaja Circuit -- for cities having connection with erstwhile princely states -- would be sent to the Union government, the minister said.