The Cabinet on Thursday approved 10 mega tourism projects including luxury resorts, star hotels and spiritual tourism projects at various places in the state.
Special chief secretary, tourism and culture, Rajat Bhargava said, “The projects are planned with an expected investment of over Rs 2,800 crore, and will create employment opportunities for around 48,000 people.”
“Tourism contributes about 7% to Andhra Pradesh’s GSDP and due to its strong backward linkages is one of the most important sectors to bring investment and generate employment while enabling the development of agriculture, transport, handloom and consumer goods ” Bhargava said in a statement.
Referring to the State Tourism Policy, he said that it has offered best impetus to the development of tourism establishments.
He said the 10 proposed hotel and resort projects were a mix of PPP and private investment. These included luxury resorts by the Oberoi Group with 7-star amenities.
The group proposes to develop a resort with 300 independent villas spread over 40 acres (₹350 crore) in Annavaram village of Bhimunipatnam mandal in Visakhapatnam district; A resort with 100 independent villas spread over 20 acres (₹250 crore) in Peruru, Tirupati; 120 independent villas on 50 acres (₹250 crore) at Gandikota in Jammalamadugu mandal of Cuddapah district; 120 villas on 21 acres (₹250 crore) in Horsley Hills, B Kothakota mandal of Chittoor district; and 150 villas on 30 acres (₹250 crore) in Pichukalanka, Atreyapuram mandal of East Godavari district.
Mega Spiritual Center
A proposal was made by ISKCON Charities to develop a mega spiritual center and a tourist base camp at Penukonda in Anantapur district.
“It is being designed to attract over 10,000 pilgrims every month, and the estimated cost of the project is ₹100 crore. It will be built in an area of 75 acres,” said Mr. Bhargava.
In addition, the Cabinet also approved grant of incentives for star hotels under the brands ‘Hyatt’ and ‘Taj’ in Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Tirupati.
“Today is an important day for AP tourism and the proposed projects will facilitate more investment in the region,” he said.
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