Parvez Dewan in New Delhi on Thursday. Picture by Rajesh Kumar

New Delhi, Oct. 12: India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) plans to build hotels in select plots available alongside its existing properties in the capital. It is also eyeing land in south Delhi.

“The idea is to build a 165-room hotel in a plot we have at Ashok, Delhi. About 65-100 rooms will also be built on a separate plot adjacent to the Qutab hotel. We have a similar plan for hotel Janpath as well. We are also looking at a plot in Kalkaji (south Delhi),” ITDC chairman and managing director Parvez Dewan said.

The Kalkaji plot, for which ITDC will have to negotiate with the Delhi government, will help the company “meet the additional tourist inflow during the commonwealth games scheduled to be held in 2010”.

A senior ITDC official said, “The hotels will come up on a built-operate-transfer basis with private participation.”

“We are a profitable company now and can easily manage funds. But new hotels will certainly be on a public-private partnership,” the official said.

On similar expansion in other cities, Dewan said, “There is no such plan yet.”

During the divestment programme undertaken by the BJP-led government, ITDC divested 18 properties out of its 33 hotels. The corporation will now renovate and refurbish the properties left under its banner.

To begin with, ITDC plans to build a second convention centre with a seating capacity of 4,000. This will be used by both Samrat and Ashok Delhi.

ITDC has received expressions of interest from 16 national and international parties for the convention centre.