Govt floats special purpose vehicle to spur tourism

The State Cabinet gave its approval on Tuesday to float a special purpose vehicle (SPV) – Karnataka Tourism Infrastructure Limited – for developing tourism infrastructure under public-private partnership in the State.

Briefing reporters, Law Minister T B Jayachandra said the tourism department had identified 1,467.38 acres of land for tourism infrastructure development. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 14,737 crore. The SPV will facilitate it by attracting private investment, he said.

The plan is to lease out the identified land to private firms that come forward to invest in the tourism sector. The land will come back to the government after the expiry of the lease period.

The private sector will invest and operate the facility on the land owned by the government. The move is expected to give a big boost to the tourism in the State, he added. The government aims to make Karnataka one of the 50 preferred tourism destinations in the world. An investment to the tune of Rs 73,000 crore has to be made by 2024 to achieve this goal, Jayachandra said.

The Cabinet also gave its nod to re-introducing Re 1 revenue stamp in the State. The government had banned the stamp in 2003 following the multi-crore stamp paper scam. The government will get an annual revenue of about Rs 10 crore as a result of this decision, he said.

Besides, the Cabinet approved the implementation of National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project in the three coastal districts of the State. The project, funded by the World Bank, envisages minimising effects of cyclone in coastal areas. The total project cost is Rs 120.60 crore, he said. The Cabinet decided to extend pension benefits to the staff of private aided industrial training institutes as per the recommendations of the P S S Thomas Committee Report.