Thursday, January 25, 2007

ITC hospitality plans North East foray

KOLKATA: Diversified conglomerate ITC is examining the possibility of setting up hotels at Bhubaneswar and Guwahati to tap new markets in the eastern and North-eastern regions.

On Monday, an ITC spokesman said the group has already started feasibility studies on the kind of hospitality ventures that would be most suited to Orissa and Assam.

"We are on the lookout for properties. We are quite open to setting up the hotels on our own, or going in for management contracts," he said. But, no decision has been taken on whether it would prefer to operate budget hotels at Bhubaneswar and Guwahati, he added.

ITC has so far not held any discussions with the governments of Orissa and Assam on being given land for starting hotels. The Oberoi group runs a 'Trident' hotel in Bhubaneswar.

"We are yet to hear from the Bengal government on when 50 acres would be provided near Vedic Village (on the outskirts of Kolkata) for an integrated IT park, that would also have a hotel to cater to ITC Infotech's clients visiting Kolkata," the spokesman said.

"Our expectation is that things in this connection would become clearer in the next six months," he pointed out. This hotel could be used to accommodate non-ITC Infotech guests if the opportunity presented itself, he added.

ITC Infotech’s plan to establish a campus at Kolkata has been doing the rounds for almost two years now. However, the firm’s inability to conclude a satisfactory land deal with the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government has prevented it from beginning work on the project till date.

The spokesman said ITC would soon start work on expanding its existing hotel in Kolkata. Last year, ITC chairman Y C Deveshwar had announced that the group would spend Rs 400-500 crore to add another 300 rooms to the Kolkata hotel. The ITC hotel in the 'city of joy' started functioning in 2002 with 238 rooms.

"We are satisfied with progress of the food and logistics, and horticulture-related proposals that we had submitted to the Bengal government. But things have not reached a stage where we can discuss specifics," the spokesman said.



http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/India_Business/ITC_hospitality_plans_North-East_foray/articleshow/1386810.cms