Water villas to be set up to tap Lakshadweep's tourism

As part of tapping tourism potential, the Centre is going ahead with the Niti Aayog's proposals to set up water villas in Lakshadweep, the coral paradise of India, and eco-friendly resorts in Andaman and Nicobar islands.

The plan is to make these islands in the Arabian sea and Bay of Bengal respectively top attractions of domestic as well as international travellers, according to officials.

Three tourism sites of Lakshadweep islands and four tourism sites of Andaman and Nicobar Islands are ready for eco-tourism entrepreneurs under public private partnership model, officials said here on Thursday.

A pre-application conference for eco-tourism projects in Lakshadweep and Andaman & Nicobar held here on Wednesday emphasised the need to create these two strategically located islands as "high end tourism destinations" of the country, Kulanand Joshi, MD, Andaman & Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation (ANIIDCO), told PTI.

The Andaman & Nicobar Islands, a group of picturesque islands, are blessed with pristine sea beaches, attractive marine life and a large extent of forest cover with rich biodiversity.

According to Niti Ayog, Lakshadweep comprises 36 green islands with blue lagoon, of which 12 were reported inhabited having population of 64,473 people.

After a detailed feasibility study and investors consultations over a period of one year, Request for Qualification documents of these eco-tourism projects were issued for PPP procurement in October 2019, officials said.

"The response for the pre-application conference indicates positive interest for the projects among potential investors," Joshi said.

Some potential investors and stakeholders present at the conference were Twenty Fourteen Holding (Lulu Group), CGH Earth, Mahindra Holidays, Abad Hotels and Resorts, Key Select Hotels, Paul Resorts, RASHI Eco-tourism Ltd, Sterling Holidays, Oberoi Realty and Radisson Group, officials said.

Shreeshail Malge, Director, Ministry of Home Affairs, Kulanand Joshi, MD, Andaman & Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation (ANIIDCO), andS Asker Ali, MD, SPORTS, Lakshadweep presented project propositions and responded to the queries raised by stakeholders.

Pre-qualification applications are due on December 5, and December 11, 2019 for Lakshadweep and Andaman & Nicobar island projects respectively.

Noting that Lakshadweep has a large lagoon area of 4,000 sq km, a strategy for "water villas" at suitable sites in the archipelago was formulated, officials said.

Water Villas were planned for the first time in the country, according to them.

"Undoubtedly, we have to plan for achieving very high level of outcomes in terms of creation of jobs, increase in per capita income, improvement in Human Development Index (HDI) and others," Niti Ayog says in its recent report: "Transforming the Islands Through Creativity & Innovation".