`Meals on water': Converting Bangladeshi Cargo Ship into floating restaurant hits roadblock in Vizag

Plans to develop the abandoned Bangladesh cargo ship `MV MAA' into a floating restaurant seem to have been delayed.

The ship was to be developed under Public-Private Partnership (PPP) at Tenneti Park. Not much progress has been made on the project.

Bangladesh cargo ship ran aground at Tenneti Park during a cyclone in October 2020. The owners of the ship were unable to bear the cost of salvaging it and dumped it in Vizag city. Vizag-based firm Gill Marines took over the abandoned ship from the insurers PNI Club (North of England) for a price of Rs 1.25 crore.

In December 2021, former Tourism Minister M Srinivasa Rao said the cargo ship will be developed as a major tourist attraction in Vizag city. He said it will take six months.

Surender Singh Gill of Gill Marines said the work to make the ship appealing is going on. "We are waiting for the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) for laying an approach road. Once the road is complete, people will visit the ship. If APTDC speeds up the work, the ship will be converted into a floating restaurant in another six to seven months," he added.

As per the plans, the 79-meter-long ship has two cargo holds and both would be developed as restaurants. One will have a sky roof and glass dome with air conditioning. There will be an air-conditioned restaurant also inside the ship. The ship will be remodeled and developed with recreation components at the cost of Rs 10.5 crore. Once the project is completed, entry ticket prices will be fixed.

Chairman, APTDC, Vara Prasad Reddy Arimanda said the proposed project Floating Restaurant may be further delayed as the business-related matters with Gill Marines are yet finalized. "We will sort out the matters to speed up the project in the coming days," Reddy added.

It may be recalled that members of the Telugu Yuvatha, a wing of TDP, took a strong objection to convert the ship into a floating restaurant citing it may impact the environment including the aquatic species near the beach. They demanded the removal of the ship from the site to protect the environment.

Important Points:

MV MAA broke anchor due to high winds and ran aground near Tenneti Park when it was on its way to deliver fly ash. The project cost for the floating restaurant is Rs10.5 crore.

Vizag city has beautiful beaches and greenery hills

Vizag has been attracting tourists from West Bengal, Odisha, and a few other states

Despite the prevailing Covid-19, over 1.7 crore tourists, including over 35,000 foreigners visited the Vizag region in 2021.

Most of the tourism projects planned for the Vizag region remained still in the drawing boards