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Uttarakhand Tourism in PPP with Emaar MGF

To set up 5-star deluxe hotel & convention centre in Dehradun

JOY ROY CHOUDHURY - Kolkata

Uttarakhand Tourism has taken the PPP route to develop the hospitality industry in the state. It has entered into a collaboration with hospitality major Emaar MGF to develop an international standard 200-room five-star hotel and state-of-the-art convention centre in Dehradun - the state capital. The project will include a modern retail and entertainment arcade.

Prakash Pant, Minister of Departments of Tourism, Culture & Parliamentary Affairs, Government of Uttarakhand, said, "The project under the Build-Operate-Transfer model is to be set up at a cost of Rs 200 crore. It will come up on a 10-acre plot of state government-owned land in Tapkeshwar, Dehradun. It is expected to be complete in the next two years." He adds, "We have handed over the land to Emaar MGF on a 30-year lease. After the expiry of the lease term, the group will hand over the hotel to the state government." The state government has also entered into a revenue-sharing agreement with the group to share two per cent of the hotel's revenue. "We hope to earn Rs 7 crore a year from the hotel project from the lease-rent and revenue sharing," Pant added. He was in Kolkata recently to attend a travel expo.

Emaar MGF has tied up with InterContinental Hotels Group for the management of the hotel and convention centre. The international standard up-market 200-keys hotel will be managed under the Holiday Inn brand. The convention facility, equipped with hi-tech projection facilities, will be spread over 35,000 sq ft and will be designed to accommodate over 1,200 people. According to Pant, the Radisson Group is also setting up luxury hotels in Dehradun and Rudrapryag.