Amaravati would be developed as a hub for water sports, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said on Friday.
Mr. Naidu was speaking after inaugurating the fifth edition of UIM F1H2O World Championship in river Krishna, along with his wife, Bhuvaneswari, and grandson Devansh.
Mr. Naidu said from the next year, F1H2O Grand Prix will be an annual event to be organised in November every year.
Deputy Chief Minister Chinna Rajappa, Deputy Speaker Mandali Budha Prasad, Ministers Nara Lokesh, Bhuma Akhila Priya, Devineni Umamaheshwar Rao and P. Pullarao were present.
Later, Mr. Naidu inaugurated a tourism meet at Bhavani Ghat and went around an exhibition of handicrafts organised on the sidelines.
He said in the composite State, he had tried to bring Formula 1 car race to Hyderabad, but had failed. But now, he was able to bring F1H2O Grand Prix which was even better than the car race.
Of the total seven editions of the race this season, Amaravati was hosting the fifth one and this would be followed by the sixth edition in Dubai and the seventh in Sharjah.
The Chief Minister said this was only the beginning, as the State would bring in many more exciting water sports in the days to come. Andhra Pradesh was gifted with a long stretch of (1,000 km) sea coast and many beaches.
Capital construction
He said in addition to construction of a greenfield capital, iconic bridges would be built across the Krishna, which had nine islands that could be developed as tourist destinations. The estimated cost of the capital construction was ₹45,000 crore and works worth ₹35,000 crore were already at different stages of progress.
The capital city of Amaravati in 800 acres would comprise nine cities and 27 townships with all modern amenities. He said the hospitality sector must aim to construct 1 lakh rooms in the next four years, while the tourism wing should explore areas of adventure tourism, temple tourism, eco-tourism and forest tourism.
Secretary, Department of Tourism and Culture, Mukesh Kumar Meena, Managing Director of Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation Himanshu Shukla and other department officials were present.
