CHENNAI: In a bid to position the southern coastline and island territories as new hubs for cruise tourism, the Indian Ports Association (IPA) is preparing feasibility studies for Rameswaram and Kanniyakumari, and exploring options in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. This comes after a Tamil Nadu Mercantile Board survey that had identified seven to eight possible sites, including Rameswaram.
The feasibility study will be fully funded by the IPA, officials said at a press conference chaired by secretary to Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways TK Ramachandran during a workshop-cum-roadshow on ‘Projects, Schemes & Public-Private Partnerships’ and ‘Human Resource (Departmental & Institutional)’.
Talks are also under way with Southeast Asian nations to stitch together regional cruise routes linking Indian ports with tourist circuits in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. The IPA has already signed an MoU with Malaysia to study opportunities in the sector, with similar agreements expected soon with Jakarta and Bangkok, said IPA managing director Vikas Narwal.
The initiatives build on the first ASEAN-India Cruise Dialogue, hosted in Chennai earlier this year. “We have begun with domestic coastal cruises and want to extend these to neighbouring countries,” said Ramachandran.
VOC Port may float tender under revised framework
Chennai: The upcoming tender for VOC Port’s Outer Harbour Project is likely to be floated under a revised implementation structure. The framework, updated from the 2021 version, incorporates committee recommendations and stakeholder inputs and will be released shortly, said shipping secretary TK Ramachandran. He stated that the revised framework is part of wider reforms in public-private partnership (PPP) processes across major ports.