The Rs 3,500-crore Shamuka tourism project, touted as the showpiece project of the Orissa government is stuck in a legal tangle with the locals raising stiff protests over land acquisition for the project.
Even the patch of 960 acres of land already acquired for the project by the state government at Sipasarubali, 10 km south of Puri, is under dispute. The matter is now sub-judice with the Orissa High Court after a public interest litigation was filed against land acquisition for the project, citing the dissent of the locals.
“A three-member committee headed by the Puri district collector has been constituted to look into the matter and submit a report. The Orissa High Court has asked the committee to expedite the preparation of the report. Unless this case is disposed of, there cannot be any progress on the project”, a highly placed official source told Business Standard.
A high-powered committee of the state government chaired by the Chief Secretary, T K Mishra on Friday reviewed the status of the mega tourism project.
It may be noted that after getting a rather lukewarm response to the bids which it had invited for its showpiece Shamuka tourism project last year, the state government had decided to revise some provisions and modalities to make the project attractive and commercially viable.
Though quite a lot of bidders had evinced interest when the bids were opened for the project, none of them turned up during the final bidding process. Rs 3500-crore Shamuka tourism project needs 2500-3000 acres of land in all and the land acquisition is being done in phases. The project is being developed on the public-private partnership (PPP) mode.
The state government which has already acquired 960 acres of land for the project in the first phase, has now set in motion the process to acquire 626 acres of land for the project in the second phase.
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The second phase land acquisition was expected to be completed by the end of 2010 and about 90 per cent of the land cost has been deposited with the district collector of Puri.
The Orissa Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) intended to invite fresh bids for this mega tourism project after completion of the second phase land acquisition.
The process of rebidding has been necessitated by the lacklustre response to the bidding process held last year.
Only three hotel chains had participated in the final bidding process for developing the four five star hotels on 100 acres of land. The Orissa government had subsequently decided to change the provisions in the bid document before going for the fresh bidding process.
The state government had engaged global consultancy firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to incorporate some new provisions in the bid document to make it investor friendly.
PwC had submitted the revised bid document to the state government in October 2009 and it needed to be approved by the state government.
The state tourism department is planning to launch campaigns for the tourism project both within the country and overseas to attract the investors, the source added.
The state government would be investing Rs 50-70 crore on providing external infrastructure like electricity and water supply for the five-star hotel properties.
Apart from the four five star hotels, the Shmauka tourism project would have facilities like a convention centre of international standards with a seating capacity of nearly 1,500, an 18-hole golf course, boutique hotels, international spa and wellness centres, an entertainment zone and sports facilities.