A floating restaurant amid sea and sky

Amid the pristine charm of the Bay of Bengal's silver waters on one side and the sound of the waves on the other, people will soon enjoy a unique dining experience in Visakhapatnam.

Much to the delight of the denizens, MV Maa, the Bangladeshi cargo vessel, is all set to don a new avatar of a floating restaurant.

The recent decision taken to convert the vessel into a floating restaurant has brought cheer to the people of the port city as it would be the first floating restaurant in Andhra Pradesh.

In order to develop the abandoned Bangladeshi ship into a tourist attraction, the vessel that ran aground at Tenneti Park in the city during a cyclone on October 12 last year will be converted into a floating restaurant.

With a timeline of six months, Gill Marines of Visakhapatnam and Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) intend to take up the project at an estimated cost of Rs.10.5 crore.

Initially, Gill Marines had taken over the vessel from the insurers and offered to sell the abandoned ship to the APTDC for Rs.4.5 crore. However, following several negotiations, the company agreed to sell the MV Maa for Rs.1.25 crore to the APTDC. Subsequently, the proposal was placed before the cabinet and the government approved it.

Built in 2009, the 79.57-meter-long vessel stretches up to 12.63-m breadth and 6.12-m depth with a capacity of 1,599 MT.

After weeks of salvage operation and restoration turning out to be a futile exercise, the owners of the vessel Advance Shipping Ltd of Dhaka decided to dispose of it as scrap.

However, followed by discussions, it was later decided to convert the vessel into a floating restaurant. The APTDC will extend required support for the proposed restaurant by providing the required infrastructure for the project like access roads, pathways, landscaping, lighting, water supply, public toilets, and many more.

One-and-a-half months before, it was agreed to develop the vessel through a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) exclusively created for the purpose.

APTDC officials were asked to submit a detailed project report (DPR) on the work to be handled by the SPV for the development of the vessel and work to be carried out by the corporation for the development of supporting infrastructure in two different parts along with the timelines for their execution so that the proposal can mutually be reviewed and an agreement can be drawn for its effective implementation.

In order to facilitate APTDC to handle the project jointly with Gill Marines, sent a letter to Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation and Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Region Development Authority to bring Tenneti Park under the ambit of APTDC for its development and future maintenance. With a capacity of 300 persons, the floating restaurant will have an open-air restaurant on top of the vessel and another similar dining facility with a sky-roof. But much before the completion of the project, MV Maa will be thrown open to the public this month-end.

In the months to follow, the APTDC officials are hopeful that the floating restaurant will be a major draw for tourists.