Kerala floats a Florida for Kochi at Rs 60 cr

Choudhury announced her support to the grand ‘water tourism’ plan. The proposal is straightforward: the Cochin Port Trust will develop the Kochi harbour into a bustling hub for cruise ships to dock while the Tourism Ministry will develop another part into a marina for private super yachts, luxury catamarans, and sail boats, for mooring, docking and dropping anchor for leisure.

Choudhury has already sanctioned Rs four crore for the Rs 60-crore project, a joint venture between the government, which owns 26 per cent, and a private consortium. The marina will be built by Trans-Resource Corporation, Malaysia, which won the global tender floated by the Tourism Ministry of Kerala.

However, a controversy is already brewing over the location of the marina with concerns about the conservation of the heritage Bolgatty Palace. Apart from conservation concerns, local protests also focus on national security fears as the Southern Naval Command is situated close by.

Choudhury dismissed such anxieties saying, ‘‘There cannot be anyone more committed to guard national security than the Government of India, and we got all the clearances before we launched the project.’’

Tourism Secretary T Balakrishnan is gung-ho, when he says, ‘‘The automobile revolution is now going to be taken over by the boat revolution, and we should be the first to cash in on it. We see a huge market as Kerala is ideally located in the international shipping waters, witnessing the highest sea traffic in the region. There is scope to build at least six marinas in Kerala.’’

The marina will be launched in 2007, and the Tourism Department hopes to begin with a 25-30 per cent jump in boat arrivals. So far, Kochi receives around 25 cruise liners every year.

However, State Tourism Minister P Sankaran, has some conventional plans for Kerala: he would like to build a convention centre in Thiruvananthapuram, and the Rs 100-crore project will include an exhibition centre, 200 three-star hotel rooms and a pleasure plaza with nightclubs and restaurants.