Siliguri, April 6: A resort with a golf course in the Dooars and an apartment and shopping complex with a multiplex and food court in Siliguri are some of the new projects Sinclairs Hotels Ltd has planned for north Bengal.

The Calcutta-based hotel group has also signed an MoU with the West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation (WBTDC) and the Sunderban Infrastructure Development Corporation (SIDC) for identifying potential tourism projects in the state, including hotels, resorts and other facilities.

The signing ceremony took place in Calcutta yesterday in the presence of chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and tourism minister Manabendra Mukherjee. The group was represented by its chairman Niren Suchanti and CEO and MD Naveen Suchanti.

“The WBTDC and the SIDC will facilitate long-term lease of government land according to established procedure. They will facilitate the consents, permissions and approvals that are required from various government departments,” Vikash Kuthari, the group’s regional director, said today.

Sinclairs will identify suitable sites for tourism projects in the state and prepare feasibility studies of these locations. The group already owns and operates five hotels in India, located in Siliguri, Darjeeling, Dooars, Ooty and Port Blair.

They now have plans to invest Rs 200 crore in various projects, the majority of which are in north Bengal. “The golf course, which will be either a nine or 18-hole course depending on the land available, will be built at a cost of Rs 50 crore, while the apartment and shopping complex has also been allocated the same amount,” Kuthari said.

A location for a resort with up to 60 rooms has also been identified near Kalimpong. The group plans to invest Rs 10 crore there. It also plans to construct a modern health spa at its existing property in the Dooars with an outlay of Rs 5 crore.

The remaining projects are in Calcutta (a business hotel with an outlay of Rs 15 crore), a business-hotel-cum club in Salboni, West Midnapore (Rs 15 crore), an eco-friendly ethnic resort in Jharkhali, Sunderbans (Rs 15 crore), and a hotel management institute in Durgapur (Rs 25 crore).