For nearly two months, 487 rooms and 600 employees of the common building of Lemon Tree and Red Fox hotels at IGI Airport's (IGIA) Aerocity complex, about 3 km from Terminal 3 (T3), are waiting to receive their first guests. Ironically, due to security fears arising out of their proximity to IGIA — which was supposed to be the USP of Aerocity — the twin hotels are now among the 12 hospitality majors that face an indefinite delay in opening.
The master plan approved for IGIA's modernization in 2007 had earmarked the area next to the tunnel road, strategically located between terminal 1D and T3, for the hospitality district called Aerocity. The plan was cleared in a rush so that T3 and some hotels in Aerocity could be ready in time for the October 2010 Commonwealth Games.
The hotels have missed the Games deadline by a long mark and there is still no certainty about when guests can start checking in. Thanks to security fears being raised by Delhi Police since 2011 and new demands for upgrading safety procedures, the hotels — whose 5,400 rooms represent an investment of Rs 12,000 crore — don't know what they could be asked to do next to be allowed to open.
13/03/13 Saurabh Sinha & Neha Lalchandani/Times of India
