SHWETA KAMAT
shweta@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The State government has proposed auctioning of berthing licenses for vessels at St Monica Jetty at Panjim, which would be used for ‘touch and go’ purposes for all other vessels, in the near future. The proposed jetty terminal building will act as single entry and exit point for all tourist boat tours for Panjim area including Patto, Campal, and Miramar.
Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) has drafted the Jetty Management Policy, which is currently being evaluated by the Jetty Management Committee, which has been constituted to oversee the functioning of the jetty.
Santa Monica Jetty in Panjim has been developed by GTDC to augment boating facilities and promote tourism activities. The jetty attracts lakhs of tourists for boat tours and is referred to as one of the prime tourist attractions in Goa since its construction in the mid-eighties.
Five cruise operators, including GTDC under one banner of “Goa Boat Cruises”, operate from the jetty. Currently, there are 11 vessels with a carrying capacity of approximately 3173 persons operating from the jetty, which caters to over seven lakh passengers annually.
“GTDC has plans to introduce at least another two vessels for undertaking high end heritage boat cruises (taking the overall count to 13 vessels) and also to provide permanent working space for at least 10 vessels in the near future,” the policy document stated.
Tourism Minister Manohar Azgaonkar said that in a bid to regulate the smooth and effective functioning of the jetty and to better coordination and functioning of boat cruise operators, tourist and State authority, the need was felt for drafting a policy document.
He said that the GTDC intends to auction the berthing licenses to cruise boat operators, and they will be given a berthing slot at the jetty terminal.
GTDC has provided mooring facilities/permanent working space currently to five vessels, while the other vessels were utilizing the jetty for ticketing, and loading/unloading of customers.
“GTDC will auction the berthing licenses at a later date by inviting bids from the open market through government bidding process. First preference of berthing space will be given to vessel owners who have won the berthing space through an auction or bidding process,” the policy states.
The jetty will be solely used for the purpose of “touch and go” for all vessels, besides the GTDC owned vessels and vessels possessing mooring license (won through auction or bidding process) shall be allowed to berth or double bank free of charge.
The policy document has also specified that Santa Monica Jetty terminal building will act as single entry and exit point for all tourist boat tours for Panjim area including Patto, Campal, and Miramar until explicitly specified and permitted by the Jetty Management Committee. “None of the vessels intended for tourist boat tours can operate from any other jetties/ locations in the stretch such as but not exhaustively Captain of Ports jetty, Kala Academy jetty, Miramar, etc,” it said.
What is interesting to note in the policy is that all vessel operators, who intend to provide entertainment programs, should ensure that over 50 percent of such programs should have Goan content.
