Plans to build helipad, restaurant, convention hall on Vikrant

India's first aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, decommissioned by the Navy over a decade ago, is to be put to commercial use like restaurants and convention centres. INS Vikrant, now only a museum, is to have certain value additions to make it financially viable.

India's first aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, decommissioned by the Navy over a decade ago, is to be put to commercial use like restaurants and convention centres.

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INS Vikrant, now only a museum, is to have certain value additions to make it financially viable.

Presently, the museum is open to public only for ten days in a year during the Navy Week in December. During the rest of the year it does not generate any revenue.

Maharashtra Urban Infrastructure Development Company (MUIDC), which will oversee the project on behalf of the state government, has issued a notice for Request For Qualification (RFQ), "for selection of a private developer for converting Vikrant as a commercially viable maritime museum".

The tender notice said, "The ship is proposed to be grouted at Oyster Rock-Colaba (Mumbai) and operated as a commercially viable maritime museum on a PPP (Public Private Partnership) basis by allowing permissible commercial activities on board".

The MUIDC website says the possible revenue streams to make the project commercially viable may include construction of helipad for helicopter rides, small shops, cafes, hoardings on the ship and convention halls among others.