This story is from September 21, 2016

VUDA's tourism projects are no money-spinners

VUDA's tourism projects are no money-spinners
Visakhapatnam: With the exception of the Kursura Submarine Museum on RK Beach, none of the tourism projects developed by Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority (Vuda) are generating the desired revenue, revealed officials.
The officials attributed the low income of the tourism projects to poor maintenance of the parks besides talks of privatisation of some of the projects in the city.

According to the officials, Vuda's major tourism projects in the city are Kailasagiri, Vuda Kursura Submarine Museum, Vuda Park near Lawson's Bay Beach, World Telugu Musuem atop Kailasagiri, Vuda Health Arena and the recently inaugurated Vuda Central Park at Dwarakanagar.
Kailasagiri, which is one of the largest hilltop parks in both AP and Telangana, was developed by Vuda in an area of 380 acres of land and is covered with flora and tropical trees. The hill, with a height of 360 feet from the mean sea level, was in 2003 awarded as one of the best tourism spots by the state government. On an average, nearly 3 lakh tourists across the globe visit the spot yearly.
But when it comes to revenue, Vuda officials said they earned only Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2 lakh per month from visitors in the form of tickets and rentals from commercial shops against its monthly maintenance cost of Rs 3.45 lakh.
Similarly, the Vuda Park at Lawson's Bay, whose monthly maintenance is Rs 2 lakh to Rs 2.2 lakh, earns around Rs 1 lakh from the visitors and commercial establishments inside the park.
Vuda spends Rs 3 lakh for maintaining the World Telugu Museum atop the Kailasagiri per month, but earns only Rs 1.5 to 2 lakh.

Meanwhile, the Vuda Health Arena along the foothills of Kailasagiri does not earn a single penny from visitors as it is free of cost for all.
"The Submarine museum is able to generate nearly 20-25% of profits for us. We are able to save nearly Rs 10 to 12 lakh per annum from the museum alone," a senior Vuda official said.
However, despite all odds, Vuda has recently inaugurated the Central Park at Dwarakanagar and is reportedly planning to hand over its maintenance to a private player.
When contacted, Vuda vice-chairman T Baburao Naidu told TOI that the tourism projects are running in losses. They are expecting an annual maintenance cost of Rs 4.15 crore to Rs 4.2 crore from the Central Park. "We have to make a detail study on running the tourism projects including the central park. At present, there is no proposals or plans of the privatisation of our tourism projects," Baburao Naidu said.
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