Rani Devalla Visakhapatnam

Aftertwo years of devising serious plans to convert the opulent sea-facing ‘Rushikonda palace’, built during the previous government’s tenure, into a viable venture, the state cabinet subcommittee has finally proposed transforming the lavish structure into a luxury resort of international standards.

The luxury resort, to be developed under the public-private-partnership (PPP) model, aims at ensuring productive utilisation of the asset built splurging public funds to the tune of Rs.500 crore and generating revenue.

With maintenance costs amounting to crores, the palatial structure became a white elephant for the Chandrababu Naidu-led government even if it remained idle and it took quite a while to figure out workable income-generating alternative.

After visiting the building multiple times, the state cabinet subcommittee, comprising Finance Minister Payyavula Keshav, Tourism Minister Kandula Durgesh and Visakhapatnam district in-charge Minister Dola Sree Bala Veeranjaneya Swamy, opined that allowing the palatial complex to remain idle would increase maintenance costs.

Hence it recommended allocating the property to the hospitality sector so it could contribute to economic growth and the tourism sector.

Keeping Visakhapatnam people’s sentiments in view, the committee suggested preserving one of the blocks of the complex as a cultural or heritage centre and it would be kept open for public visits.

The proposal will soon be placed before the state cabinet headed by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu for the final nod.

After carrying out an extensive inspection of the building, the state cabinet subcommittee reviewed the architectural design and present condition of the structures along with tourism and revenue officials.

This was followed by another review meeting with Tourism Department Special Chief Secretary Ajay Jain, District Collector M Abhishikth Kishore, GVMC Commissioner Ketan Garg and senior officials from the revenue and tourism departments wherein the discussions centred on the future course of action.

Given the growing maintenance costs and feedback received from stakeholders and public, the subcommittee felt that operating the Rushikonda complex as a premium hospitality venture would be the most profit-generating alternative.

The ministers informed that several leading hospitality groups, including Taj, The Leela, Atmosphere Core and other reputed brands, have already expressed interest in revamping the idle-lying asset into an international luxury resort.

They informed that interested groups would soon be invited through an official notification, following a transparent process involving Request for Qualification (RFQ), eligibility assessment and prescribed timelines.

Following the committee’s recommendations, the two-year-long wait to convert the lavish Rushikonda palace into a productive project has finally ended.