Goa to soon provide co-working spaces to visitors on beaches

Panaji: Professionals visiting Goa will soon be able to work while enjoying the picturesque shoreline as the state government has come up with a concept of co-working spaces on the beaches.

The Goa government is going to promote the "culture of #WorkationGoa" through co-working spaces to be created on the beaches, state Tourism and Information and Technology (IT) Minister Rohan Khaunte said in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday night.

In the initial phase, Benaulim beach in South Goa district and Morjim and Miramar beaches in North Goa district have been identified for setting up such co-working spaces, he said.

“A person can work, go and surf on the beach and come back, take a shower and resume work through these co-working spaces on the beaches,” the minister said.

Many companies were giving their employees the liberty to work from home, he noted.

“We want such people who would opt to work from home to come here and work from these co-working spaces and also help us in the IT ecosystem,” he said.

Speaking during the demands for grants for the IT department, Khaunte said Goa needs to be developed on lines of the T-Hub.

T-Hub is an innovation intermediary and business incubator based in Hyderabad, Telangana. Based on the triple helix model of innovation, it is a partnership between the Government of Telangana, three academic institutes in Hyderabad and the private sector.

"We need spaces to develop Goa like the T-Hub. We have already started advertising to seek spaces to create co-working spots. Today, we are ready with the database,” the minister said.

He further said Goa needs to create skilled manpower required for the IT industry.

“The existing manpower is already absorbed by the industry. We need to provide skills to the new manpower and upskill and reskill the existing manpower,” he said.

The Goa government is going to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge (TASK) for the purpose.

Khaunte also said the tourism department was planning to set up model beach shacks, having modern facilities including Wi-Fi for customers, on four stretches spread across North and South Goa districts.

“These shacks would be set up at Colva, Benaulim and Baina beaches in South Goa and Calangute-Baga belt in North Goa,” he said while responding to the demands for grants for the tourism department.

The shacks will have “plug and play” facility wherein they would have to just connect to the sewerage and other infrastructure facilities which would be provided by the government, he added.