Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo today chaired a meeting to discuss the suitability of different ways and means to establish the Water Theme Park along River Tawi here at Sidhra, Jammu.

Those who attended this meeting includes Commissioner Secretary, H&UDD; Commissioner Secretary, Tourism; VC, JDA and other concerned officers.

In the beginning the Chief Secretary took note of the status of land identified by the Department around Sidhra Golf Course on the banks of River Tawi. He enjoined upon the Housing Department to ascertain that the land is free from all encumbrances especially seeking NoC from the Forest Department.

He advised the Jammu Development Authority (JDA) to use this prized land as their equity in the project so that it would be a source of regular income for the authority. He asked them to invite EoI for creating a thematic Water Amusement Park at this site in a PPP mode as per the formulated plan.

Dulloo also underscored the need of taking this matter to the respective Board of Directors (BoD) of JDA for the same is empowered to take decisions about further course of action.

He observed that this park would be a new addition to the tourist attractions in Jammu along with Tawi Lake Front, Zoological Park and other amenities created here. He made out that such amusements together with creation of better infrastructure is going to increase the tourist footfall here besides making Jammu a tourist destination in its own right.

The Commissioner Secretary, H&UDD, Mandeep Kaur while presenting details apprised the meeting that a chunk of land measuring 92 Kanal and 3 Marlas at village Dwara (Sidhra area, adjacent to Golf Course) along the river Tawi has been identified by JDA for development of this Water Park.

She added that the proposed site is approximately 04 Kms from the National Highway and is suitable for this project. The “Land Use” status as per Master Plan 2032 is ‘Recreation Use’ and cost of the land is estimated at Rs.129.36 Crores, the meeting was informed.

It was further given out that in response to the EOI floated earlier, an offer was received which is under consideration for appointment of transaction advisor for framing RFP.

About the proposed footfall, it was revealed that as per preliminary estimates the Park is going to attract around 20 lakh visitors annually taking the percentage of pilgrims coming for Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine or Amarnathji Yatra including the locals and those coming to visit other tourist places.