Tourism Minister Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao has said the boating activity will resume soon in the State.
At a press conference here on Tuesday, Mr. Srinivasa Rao said the officials concerned were told to restore all the 195 boats with fresh licences after a full-fledged fitness check. He said the tourism boats would be operated once the flood waters recede in the water bodies.
In Visakhapatnam and East Godavari regions, the boating activity had already started but at the Bhavani Island, Nagarjuna Sagar and Srisailam, the department was waiting for the flood water to recede.
He said out of the total 195 boats, 56 small 12-seater boats were given licences, while 112 boats with higher capacity were yet to get licence. Plans were afoot to buy new boats to boost the department revenue, he said, adding that nine command control rooms were set up to prevent boat mishaps.
The Minister said the department was exploring new possibilities to increase revenue and said introduction of seaplane recreation connecting Visakhapatnam-Vijayawada and Hussain Sagar, just like the project inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Gujarat, was under consideration.
He said the 38 restaurants run by the Tourism Department supplied food to the COVID centres during the lockdown period and earned a revenue of ₹22.5 crore. There was a proposal to start a new ship restaurant in Visakhapatnam besides construction of five and seven star hotels, he said.
New stadium
In the sports sector, a new stadium and a shopping complex, built in Prakasam district at a cost of ₹2.2 crore and ₹1 crore respectively, were ready for inauguration on Thursday. Construction of six more stadiums in Prakasam, East Godavari and Guntur districts were under way. The State was to receive ₹3 crore funds under the Central initiative Khelo India for the YSR Sports School in Kadapa.
Mr. Srinivasa Rao said the State had also given permission to run individual sports institutions in 10 different sports like archery, badminton and tennis under unlock 5.0 from Thursday.
A statue of famous wrestler Kodi Rammurthy Naidu, who brought many laurels to the State, would be installed on Beach Road in Visakhapatnam, he said.
