PORVORIM: Goa’s Tourism master plan and policy, which will propose setting up a tourism board, which would be ready in next three to four months, Minister for Tourism Manohar Azgaonkar told House on Thursday while stating that government will take cognizance of new draft CRZ notification 2018 while finalizing the plan.
Azgaonkar said that government has appointed the consortium of M/s KPMG Advisory Services Private Limited and Tourism & Leisure (T&L) Advisory Services, Spain to formulate a forward thinking tourism master plan and tourism policy for Goa in consultation with key industry stakeholders. “As part of the plan, a tourism board will be constituted,” he said.
“Government will take cognizance of new draft CRZ notification 2018 issued by Union Ministry for Environment and Forest while finalizing the Tourism Master Plan. The draft CRZ notification is still under examination and hence the changes that would likely to take place due to its implementation cannot be stated at this stage,” Minister said.
Azgaonkar also said that the master plan will ensure that interest of traditional occupants are protected and that there is complete ban on renting out shacks by locals to non Goans.
Minister was replying to the Question raised by Congress MLA Filip Neri Rodrigues who questioned the delay in finalizing the master plan. He also sought to know whether the master plan will take into consideration the issues like environment impact, infrastructure, socio economic impact, etc.
Rodrigues also sought to know whether the master plan will be prepared keeping in mind the CRZ restrictions and ensure that they do not pose hindrance in the tourism development.
Spelling out details about the master plan, Azgonkar told House that as per the agreement, the scope of work of the Consultant has been divided into two phases, Phase-1 is planning phase and phase-2 is program management phase. Further the Phase I is divided into 6 modules.
Module 1 consists of Current and projected tourism scenario and understanding key gaps, Module 2 focuses on developing tourism concepts to attract tourist, Module 3 is about Development of Tourism Master, Development of Tourism Policy comes under Module 4, Module 5 is to Review and recommend measures for strengthening institutional and economic linkages and Module 6 is the Development of Action Plan to implement the previous modules.
“The Consultant has so far submitted Reports on Module 1, 2, 3 and 4, out of which Modules 1, 2 and 3 have been approved by Government whereas Module 4 Report which comprises of the Tourism Policy is being examined by the Evaluation Committee,” Minister said.
Under Phase II, the Consultant would provide Project Management Support to Department of Tourism for a period of 5 years to implement the Modules in an effective and planned manner. The consultant KPMG is been paid an amount of Rs 3.43 crores, while another Rs 1.56 crores are due.
