Bhubaneswar, Sept. 26: The city is set to get its third five-star hotel.
The ITC Fortune Hotels, a fully-owned subsidiary of ITC Limited, is all set to develop a 100-room luxury hotel, with the state government allocating it six acres for the project. The hotel would become operational by 2018.
Managing director of ITC Fortune Hotels Suresh Kumar, who is in the city to attend the 50th annual convention of the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India, announced this today.
"We have decided to construct the hotel but can't reveal more details at the moment," he said.
The ITC Fortune project would cost around Rs 125 crore, and it would be the third five-star property in the city after Mayfair Lagoon and Trident, which together have 200 rooms. The announcement by the ITC group is significant in view of the state's growing profile as a big-time tourist destination and convention venue.
The federation's golden jubilee convention is a big step towards promoting tourism in the state by raising its profile at the national level. Sources said many in the federation were initially hesitant about Bhubaneswar hosting the event as they felt that good accommodation for the guests would be a problem. But finally, federation president T.S. Walia convinced the members to stick to the city as the state government had extended unconditional support to the event.
A few other groups have also evinced interest in setting up hotels in the state.
"Some big hotel groups such as Lemon Tree, Haldiram, the Brahmaputra group and US-based New Port have evinced interest in setting up their ventures in and around Bhubaneswar, the Puri-Konark belt or other places in the state," said tourism principal secretary Laxmi Narayan Gupta.
"We have given them details of the land bank available with us from the Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation. From the discussion, we had this morning, we learnt that some of them would also be interested in having their projects in west Odisha and the tribal belts of the state," Gupta said.
Industries secretary Sanjeev Chopra, while addressing a session on Investment Opportunities in Odisha on the second day of the meet, said: "The state government now accords time-bound approval to projects, so that hoteliers face no problems. For green or eco-friendly projects, the approval time is 15 days."
The second day of the convention saw exclusive discussion on developing the tourism sector in the state.
Chopra said that with a view to make project approvals more professional and business-friendly, members of the Confederation of Indian Industries and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industries have been made members of the state-level facilitation centre, which facilitates the setting up of new ventures in the state.
President of Uttar Pradesh Hotel and Restaurant Associations Suresh Kumar Jaiswal, who is associated with developing the biggest hotel venture in Lucknow under the Ramada group's banner, said: "The group is also interested in setting up a hotel in Odisha, but it needs all clearances online. If the facilities are provided, we may consider a venture here."
Chief executive officer of the Chilika Development Authority Ajit Patnaik, in a presentation, said how the largest brackish water lake in Asia was going to be developed as a tourism destination with a master plan to attract investment in the fields of eco-tourism, hotels, beach and resorts.
Regarding the development of the Samuka projectnear Puri, the tourism secretary said: "The project is held up because of an injunction from the National Green Tribunal." The Samuka project is the largest integrated tourism project of the state, which has been visualised as a one-stop rejuvenation facility for the tourists."
