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Grounded vessel likely to be used as ‘shore and ship resort’ from April

After obtaining the necessary permissions from CZMA, the APTDC will develop the 'Maa' as a tourist attraction in association with Gill Marines and ready it within the next two months. Tourism officials are planning to convert the ship, which is stucknear Tenneti Park, into a tourist destination. The ship is currently not yet open to the public. Some maintenance work like painting was being done to prevent rusting. On Feb 19, 2025, the ship owner Surender Singh Gill, managing director of Shore & Ship Resorts Private Limited (M/s Gill Marines), said they were spending an amount of ₹5 lakh per month on the maintenance. The government was yet to grant all necessary approvals to the project as it wanted to ensure that any tourism activity does not contravene any Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) guidelines. The government formalities will be completed soon to make the ship useful in terms of tourism. To provide the necessary infrastructure like approach road, toilets & changing rooms, the APTDC has applied for permission from the Forest Department and A.P. Coastal Zone Management Authority (CZMA). The Forest Department has given permission, but the permissions from CZMA were yet to be granted. After obtaining the necessary permissions, APTDC will associate with Gill Marines to develop the ship as a ‘Shore and Ship resort. The ship, which was waiting to load cargo at the Visakhapatnam Anchorage Port, was said to have lost two anchors and drifted ashore during a cyclonic storm in the early hours of Oct 13, 2020. It drifted ashore and finally ran aground on the hard rocky shore at Tenneti Park near the foothills of Kailasagiri. After rescue operations and recovery work failed, the ship’s owners, Advance Shipping Limited, Dhaka, decided to declare the ship as abandoned. The ship’s insurers, North of England, took possession of the ship and declared it a wreck and proposed to scrap it. The then YSRCP government proposed to use the ship for tourism purposes by developing it as a floating restaurant. Gill Marines, which had then taken over the ship from the insurers, offered to sell the abandoned ship to APTDC for ₹4.50 crore. APTDC informed Gill Marines that it would provide all necessary support for development of the ship as a tourist attraction. On October 20, 2021, Gill Marines accepted the APTDC offer. Report with photo: https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Visakhapatnam/beached-bangladeshi-vessel-likely-to-be-used-as-shore-and-ship-resort-from-april/article69239032.ece

Grounded ship still waiting for conversion

The future of the'Maa', which grounded during a cyclonic storm on Oct 12, 2020, on the shore abutting Tenneti Park in Visakhapatnam, for which the previous YSRCP government proposed to utilise the ship for tourism purposes by developing it into a floating restaurant and which was approved to purchase and remodel the ship at an estimated cost of Rs 10.5 crore as a major tourist attraction, is still uncertain. The Gill Marines came forward to develop the ship as a resort through a special purpose vehicle (SPV) exclusively created for the purpose and sought for the support to provide infrastructure. Based on the request of Gill Marines, APTDC asked to submit a detailed proposal along with a DPR on the works to be handled by the SPV for the development of the 'Maa' in two phases Gill Marines commenced necessary repair and development works to the ship and proposed to develop the beachfront with a restaurant and landscaping. In order to facilitate APTDC to handle the ship project in collaboration with Gill Marines, a letter was sent to GVMC and VMRDA to handover Tenneti Park to the control of the APTDC for its development and future maintenance. With the formation of the new government, hopes to revoke the floating restaurant project got revoked. The AP Tourism was awaiting clearances from the forest Department along with other wings.

Grounded ship still waiting to be turned into a restaurant

The plan to promote tourism on the beachfront in Visakhapatnam by converting the 'Maa' into a floating restaurant still remained on hold. Though the State government had declared an allotment of Rs 10 crore for the project, it was yet to take some shape due to procedural wrangle in getting clearance from environmental point of view. The Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) had also tied up with Shore & Ship Resorts Private Repair Ltd. to make necessary alterations within the vessel at an estimated cost of Rs 15 crore. Green activists said that the continuation of the ship just close to Tenneti Park, a popular venue for the localities and tourists in the city, was an environmental risk. The State government explored various options to make the ship fit by redesigning to convert it into a restaurant as part of an effort to promote beach tourism. However, delay in getting clearances from the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, clearance under the Coastal Regular Zone (CRZ) guidelines and other authorities turned the project jinxed. Report with photo: https://www.bizzbuzz.news/national/bid-to-convert-abandoned-bdesh-ship-into-floating-restaurant-turns-jinxed-1317293