Dine under stars off Mahim at Asia’s first glass floatel soon
COAST IS CLEAR Maritime board gives its nod for floatel, which will be set up near sea link
MUMBAI: You will soon be able to enjoy the starry sky from a glass floatel overlooking the Bandraworli Sea Link, with the Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB) approving a proposal for a floating restaurant made of glass. According to senior MMB officials, this will be Asia’s first glass floatel.
The floatel, expected to come up by April, will be set up on a barge and will be anchored in the Mahim Bay near the sea link
“This floatel is unique as it is completely made of glass, so the patrons will be able to enjoy the view while they dine. The board passed the proposal earlier in the month. It will be run by a private operator like other floatels,” said a senior MMB official. Chetan Bhende, managing director of WB International Consultants, who runs AB Celestial, a floatel operational near the sea link, said, “This floatel is going to be a first in the Asia-pacific region. It is designed by a person from Finland and we are getting the material from Scandinavia.” The floatel will be set up on a 55mx20mwide barge.
“We plan to start the floatel by April,” Bhende said.
“The glass pieces will be assembled once it is anchored. It takes about 45 days to assemble the floatel. We are going to use fully green technology to run it. It can accommodate about 360390 people, including staff. It will house a restaurant and will have a small upper deck that can be used as a lounge,” Bhende added.
Officials said there is a lot of potential for floatels to come up in Mumbai and they have been getting queries. “Mumbai being surrounded by water should have tapped into this space a long time ago, but policies were not conducive. Now we have two floatels operational in Bandramahim. One is coming up in Borivli and we have had people looking to set up one floatel in Belapur,” said another MMB official requesting anonymity. Two floatels are coming up at the anchorage at Gateway of India.