Railways struggle with budget hotels

Among the legacies of conflict that Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee has inherited from her predecessor Lalu Prasad is the much-hyped budget hotels scheme — involving the construction of 100 hotels on vacant railway land in the public-private partnership mode. Srinand Jha reports.

Among the legacies of conflict that Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee has inherited from her predecessor Lalu Prasad is the much-hyped budget hotels scheme — involving the construction of 100 hotels on vacant railway land in the public-private partnership mode.

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Conceptualised in 2006, the plan — estimated to fetch Rs 3,823 crore for the Railways by lease of 20 hotels in the first phase — has not taken off for an unusual reason: The Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) and the Railway Land Development Authority (RLDA) have both been pressing with claims of functioning as the implementing agency.

The question now is: can Banerjee retrieve the scheme?

During November-December 2006 and March-April 2007, the IRCTC floated bids for the construction of budget hotels at 29 sites and letters of allotment were also handed out to selected companies. Bidders included Delhi-based Zoom-Toshali Sands consortium and Emmar MGF Accor consortium, Mumbai-based Essel Intraprojects Ltd, GL Hotels, Pan India Paryatan Ltd and Signet Hotels.

However, RLDA functionaries stepped in with claims that the plan interfered with another big-ticket project of the Railways — the proposed construction of world-class railway stations. Hence, the argument that it was best for the RLDA to implement the budget hotels.

Officials of both the RLDA and IRCTC were unwilling to comment.