VISAKHAPATNAM: Works for the much anticipated tourism project, TU-142M aircraft museum, at the Beach Road will pick up pace as the tourism officials have been given a deadline to ground the project by August 15.
District collector Pravin Kumar said that the works for the project would start with a budget of Rs 10 crore and it would be completed in 45 days. He has asked the tourism officials to ensure that the museum inaugural takes place on August 15. However, Andhra University has not yet allotted the museum venue to the tourism department. Pravin requested the AU registrar to allot the site immediately.
“The dismantling works of the aircraft will from Wednesday and it will be placed at the allotted site soon,” said Pravin Kumar. He also asked VUDA vice-chairman Basanth Kumar to call for tenders to develop the Beach Road area having the Kursura submarine museum, Victory at Sea, AU convention Hall, as a mega tourism complex.
After decommissioning at INS Rajali at Arakkonam in Tamil Nadu on March 29, the TU-142M, long range maritime patrol aircraft, received a warm welcome from the officials of Eastern Naval Command (ENC) in Visakhapatnam on April 8.
The TU-142M was designed by Tupolev and manufactured by Kuibyshev Aviation in Russia. Apart from being armed with a 23-mm cannon in the rear, the aircraft was designed to carry an assorted payload of depth charges, anti-submarine and ship bombs. In its 29 years of service, the aircraft is said to have flown for over 30,000 hours.