Update on the Shamuka beach project near Puri in Odisha
Bhubaneswar- Cuttack- Puri, Business Standard, Puri, Puri, Shamuka Beach project, Sites in and around Bhubaneswar February 18th. 2010, 4:40pmFollowing is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.
The state government, which acquired around 970 acres of land in the first phase for the Rs 3500-crore project, has now set in motion the process to acquire 626 acres of land for the project in the second phase.
The second phase land acquisition is expected to be completed by the end of 2010. The Shamuka tourism project needs 2500-3000 acres of land in all.
The project is being developed near Sipasarubali, about 10 km south of Puri on the public-private partnership (PPP) mode.
… After the second phase land acquisition, the Orissa Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) will invite fresh bids for the project. This has been necessitated as the initial attempt to invite bids for the project received lukewarm response last year.
It may be noted that only three hotel chains had participated in the earlier bidding process for developing the four five star hotels on 100 acres of land. …
The state government had engaged global consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to incorporate some new provisions in the bid document for the Shamuka tourism project so as to make it investor friendly.
… The state government is 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.
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February 20th, 2010 at 6:40 pm
I was just reading an article on Puri and found something interesting that talks about the Samuka project. On the surface the project appears to be a perfectly great initiative by the government but dig a little deeper and you have a story of vested interests (land mafia and politicians in collusion). I quote:
“This holy city has earned yet another dubious distinction of patiently harbouring the country’s largest government-owned land scam. About 2,800 acres of government land towards the western end, soon after the sea-river confluence, has been surreptitiously transferred in the names of people who constitute the powerful land mafia. The process, in fact, started in the ‘70s and came to light in 1994. Administrative and vigilance probes have revealed the role of government officials behind the illegal transfers and ironically, now the government is buying its own land from the land mafias for a tourist project called ‘Samuka’ at higher rates from the illegal owners!” Source: http://www.zeenews.com/news605664.html#