Kolkata, Dec 28 (IANS) China will be the added attraction at the West Bengal Tourism and Food Festival 2010 that begins here Jan 6, state Minister Manabendra Mukherjee said here Monday.
“Apart from the participation of several states like Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Jammu and Kashmir, this time a Chinese delegation will be there,” Mukherjee, the minister for micro and small scale enterprises, textile and tourism, said.

A 50-member Chinese delegation will be participating in the fair, he said.

“A big Chinese cultural troupe is coming to perform and there will be stalls having delicious Chinese delicacies for the visitors to enjoy,” Mukherjee said.

The seventh edition of the festival will be held from Jan 6 to Jan 10.

“Besides, we have plans to organise Hazarduari Utsav where the art and culture of the times of the Nawabs (of Bengal) will be displayed. The aim of this will be to promote tourism in Murshidabad,” Mukherjee added.

The West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation managing director T.V.N. Rao said the tourism department was preparing documents to float the second round of tenders to invite private players for a river cruise development project on the Ganges that will be executed under the public-private-partnership model.

“The project is pegged at Rs.130 crore, of which the centre will fund anything from Rs.30 crore to Rs.50 crore,” Rao said.

“The few companies that initially responded in the first tenders later backed out due to some land and equity sharing problems. In the second tender document we will be mentioning that the private company selected for the job will get subsidy and adequate land for implementing the project,” Rao said.