State plans Rs 510-crore park on Konkan coast

In a bid to give a boost to tourism in coastal Konkan area, the Maharashtra government is planning to set up Rs510 crore Sea World theme park in Sindhudurg district on Konkan coast.

In a bid to give a boost to tourism in coastal Konkan area, the Maharashtra government is planning to set up Rs510 crore Sea World theme park in Sindhudurg district on Konkan coast.

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Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Tuesday gave in-principal approval for the plan, the chief minister’s office said in an official release here.

The state tourism department and its tourism promotion wing, Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) will work out a detailed project for the same.

According to the release, the proposed theme park will have an aquarium, a dolphin stadium, water sports center, an underwater studio, a theme restaurant, hotels, a convention center and an information center.

Due to environmental concerns, the project will be set up on idle land on the coast and not in the sea. The project plan and feasibility report have been prepared by the science and technology department of Pune University.

The project will be built through a private developer. The estimated cost of the project would be Rs510 crore and the state government has offered to contribute Rs100 crore as viability gap funding to make the project profitable for the private developer.

“We selected Sindhudurg district as it has good connectivity through Konkan Railway and Mumbai-Goa highway. Also, the coastal highway is under construction and a domestic airport has been proposed at Chipi,” said a tourism department official.