Biggies stay out from GMR's hotel project

New Delhi: The GMR-backed Delhi International Airport Pvt Ltd's (DIAL) funding problem for the proposed hotel district is getting bigger. The
request for proposal (RFP) for building hotels across all segments, from super luxury to budget, closed last week. DIAL got only 15 proposals for 13 plots, with the big three hospitality players ITC, Taj and Oberoi staying away from the bidding process.
"The response is not encouraging at all. The hotel district was originally estimated to raise Rs 2,750 `crore for the Rs 8,900-crore IGI modernisation plan but now the realised amount will be much, much less," said a senior DIAL official. The consortia is, however, unlikely to go in for a fresh bidding at this stage to get a better response due to not-so-good market conditions.
The bidding for hotel district was supposed to happen over a year back before the real estate crash but got delayed due to a controversy over sharing security deposit from successful bidders with the Airports Authority of India. Then booming realty would have made the target amount possible as Delhi faces a huge shortage of hotel rooms. But by the time the process got the go-ahead the market conditions had changed.
Initially the project had elicited good interest among hospitality majors. "The RFP's last date was extended as both Taj and Oberoi were hit by the tragedy in Mumbai and we wanted to give them time to participate. But then the bid had to be closed last week as we now need to award the plots without any further delay. If construction work begins in a couple of months, we may still have a few properties ready in time with the opening of new airport before Commonwealth Games 2010," said the official.
22/12/08 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Categories: Airports Dec 2008