At Chennai Port, modernisation of the cruise terminal would begin in 2014 at an estimated cost of Rs 22.14 crore. The port has got Rs 8.5 crore from the Union government for development of a cruise tourism facilitation centre. The Ministry of Tourism has identified Chennai port as one of the ports for development of cruise tourism in India.
The port will source the remaining money by developing the terminal in a PPP mode. A skywalk, through which passengers can board the ship directly without the need to stroll on the wharf, would be constructed. The port would also install scanning machines to do away with the security threat to luxury liners.
The port authorities are looking at air-conditioning the entire cruise terminal and installing escalators to facilitate passengers. Passport reading machines, which will facilitate the work of immigration officials and quicken the whole process, are also on the cards.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.