Stage is set for the commencement of the ₹4.93-crore Phase II development of Akkulam tourist village to restore it to its old grandeur and to attract tourists again. This comes close on the heels of resuming boating in the lake, after a gap of five years by removing water hyacinth.
Kerala Tourism has entrusted the Uralungal Labour Contract Cooperative Society (ULCCS) with setting up a slew of recreational facilities at the village. Government nod has been received for works to the tune of ₹ 2 crore.
Agreement would be signed between the Thiruvananthapuram District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC) and the ULCC and the phase II development work would commence soon, said DTPC Secretary T.V. Prashant.
The DTPC is upbeat as boating using a safari boat and a speed boat has fetched ₹29,400 in the first six days of September.
The response to the Onam celebrations at the village, after it was made a venue again at the initiative of local legislator and Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran, has too been overwhelming.
Facilities
A ₹1.7-crore digital music fountain, cricket bowling pitch, amphitheatre, cycle track, and winch transportation to the hilltop are among the facilities to be set up. Art installation, renovation of the artificial waterfalls and pavilion of the swimming pool, restoration of a pond below the hilltop with bowl boats, and recreational space atop the hilltop also figure among the approved works. The adventure sports facilities to be created at the village would be leased out, the DTPC Secretary said. New multi-play equipment for children’s park, a restaurant that can seat 60 diners, an interpretation centre, an office block, and a pavilion at entrance will also come up.
A meditation and yoga centre will be set up in the old building. Landscaping, improvements in the surrounding of the swimming pool, aesthetic compound wall for the sprawling 6.5-acre property, a bore well and water treatment plant, waste management system, and electrification are the other components to be created. The DTPC has solved the drinking water crisis at the village by clearing ₹6 lakh arrears due to KWA since 1997.
“Once works are completed, signages will be installed to guide the visitors. The village will be disabled-friendly, besides being a plastic-free zone,” Mr. Prashant said.
Lake cleaning
Mr. Prashant, who is also the CEO of the Akkulam Destination Management Council headed by Mr. Surendran, said talks were on with Inland Navigation for annual cleaning of the lake. It would take at least a year to remove the dredged silt that was lying near the Natpac building enroute to the village, he said.