A team from Federation of Association in Indian Tourism & Hospitality (FAITH) comprising top Adventure Tour Operators, Luxury Hotel Groups and other premium hospitality/tourism companies shall meet during a workshop to be held on 5-6th December 2015 on the actual site location to deliberate upon the partnership plans for development of International Tourism destination around Ranjit Sagar Lake. Various aspects of development plans of this tourist location were discussed in detail during the 2nd Executive Committee Meeting of Shivalik (Dhauladhar) Tourism Development Board (SDTDB) chaired by Mr. Sarvesh Kaushal, Chief Secretary Punjab.
During the meeting, Chief Secretary was informed that SDTDB has been established by the Government of Punjab to develop tourist/theme destination project in an area around Ranjit Sagar Dam along approximately 87 sq km of Ranjit Sagar Lake. The project site is ideally suited for water sports activities and eco-tourism, due to the abundance availability of water cover in Shivalik hills. The progress of the project was discussed in detail and CS was informed that M/s Ernst & Young LLP have been appointed as the Transaction Advisor for technical consultant appointment, project marketing, project report preparation and also for signing concession agreements with the key potential developers. BDP (UK) has been appointed as the Technical Consultant for Master Planning, GIS surveys, Environmental Impact Assessment and other technical matters. Transaction Advisor has already submitted a pre-feasibility report regarding the project and expected footfall in the location as per the report is 3.5 lakhs tourists. Further as per pre-feasibility report, the possible activities at various locations of the project site includes Star Category Hotels/ Eco Resorts, Ropeways, Convention centers, High Street, Tree houses, Water based activities, adventure activities etc.
CS was further informed that SDTDB along with Transaction advisor has already completed first round of interaction with key potential partner groups namely The Taj Group, ITC Hotels, The Lalit Group, DLF, Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Essel Group and other large group hospitality companies. All the companies have shown very keen interest in development of this tourist destination and have asked for better connectivity, security, concessions etc for development of this site into a global tourism destination. During the proposed workshop on 5-6th December, various project promotion activities will be discussed with potential partners. MoU with M/s DLF has already been signed during Invest Punjab summit last week with proposed investment of Rs. 1000 crore in setting up water front villas and Smart Township along with other tourism activities.Chief Secretary asked the Transaction Advisor to effectively coordinate with Technical Consultant to strictly adhere to the timelines of May 2016 for signing of concession agreements after finalization of Request for Proposal (RFP) by March 2016 and detailed project report by January 2016. Chief Secretary further asked the Department of Irrigation & DC Pathankot to resolve land transfer issue and other issues in next 2 weeks. The meeting was attended by Mr. Viswajit Khanna, IAS Principal Secretary Housing & Urban Development, Mr. Anirudh Tewari, IAS, Principal Secretary Industries, Mr. A Venu Prasad, MD PIDB, Mr. P S Aujla, CEO SDTDB and other officials from concerned departments.