Imphal: A Manipur House, which will furnish travel information about the state, is coming up at Mandalay town of neighbouring Myanmar, raising hopes of an increased flow of tourists.

The house, which will also be known as a "business representative office," will be constructed through a joint venture of Manipuri businessmen and their Myanmarese counterparts at the initiative of a young businessman of Imphal, Thokchom Jotin.

"It will be an Indo-Myanmar joint venture. The house will provide all the information about facilities for treatment, education and routes to religious places like Manipur's Shree Shree Govindajee and Bodhgaya," Jotin, who is the general secretary of the Manipur Chamber of Commerce, told The Telegraph.

He said construction will begin this year. Initially it will be constructed with funds contributed by those involved in the joint venture.

Later, the joint venture company will seek funds from the Centre through DoNER ministry.

"The process for registration of the joint venture company has begun. The land has been donated by Kakchingtabam Sundergopal, a Manipuri at Bamon Leikai (its Meitei name), known as Chan Aye Thar San township in the heart of Mandalay town," Jotin said.

Sundergopal, who passed away last year, was a descendent of the Manipuris whom the Burmese forcibly took away to engage as forced labourers during their invasion of the state from 1819 to 1826, which is known as the Seven-Years' Devastation.

"Every Manipuri settled in Mandalay dreams of visiting Imphal's Govindajee temple at least once in their lifetime. Similarly, Buddhists of Myanmar dream of visiting Bodhgaya. Air travel to Bodhgaya is expensive. If they can travel by bus from Imphal to Bodhgaya it will be affordable and the guesthouse will provide facilitate their travels," Jotin said.

Patients also come to Manipur for treatment and students come from Myanmar as well as Cambodia and Laos.

"There is a lot of scope for tourism, medical tourism and education. We can sell this to Myanmar and beyond. This is our dream," he said.

As a part of the joint venture, a warehouse has been constructed near the site of the guest house. The warehouse will help businessmen of both the countries as a transit point, he said.

Jotin will attend an international conference on Looking forward: India-Myanmar relations on November 10 and 11 at Yangon.

He will present a paper on the plans of the joint venture during the conference.