Newstrack

Gujarat set to get floating hotel

EH Staff - Mumbai

Gujarat is all set to get a luxury floating hotel that would include an international marina, a golf course and conference centres. This mega tourism project would also see two passenger luxury ships with five-star facilities, houseboats available on hire, yachts and amphibious buses. The MoU for the Rs 5,000 crore project was signed between Captain Savio De Silva Furtado, chairman and managing director of the Singapore-based Seaways Maritime and state principal secretary (tourism), R M Patel.

For the floating hotel project, the group is keen for a location around Surat, with the international marina also at the same place. The project is set to roll in the next six months, said Furtado. He further added that two luxury cruise ships would start plying in the next six months along the Gujarat coast.

"Our aim is to offer a new kind of lifestyle options to the people of India. Many other states were in the running but the Gujarat government was very quick with its support. We need to create a berthing infrastructure for the floating hotel. This might take some time. But the roll-on-roll-off (RO-RO) luxury passenger ships will start in next six to eight months," Furtado said. The international marina would be a complete world-class recreational harbour with houseboats, yachts, hotels, restaurants, and other facilities geared for a complete outing experience. The company would set up the floating hotel at a cost of Rs 1,700 crore, the passenger RO-RO luxury ship at a cost of Rs 1,200 crore, a five star deluxe cruise liner at a cost of Rs 1,900 crore and a dozen houseboats for another Rs 191 crore.