A computer image of the hotel. A Telegraph picture

Siliguri, June 20: The second five-star hotel is set to come up in the trade hub, ?paving the way for a luxury stay for investors?.

The project announced today will take off in collaboration with Fortune Park Hotels Ltd, a subsidiary of the ITC Welcomgroup. The announcement comes close on the heels of a similar venture, the foundation stone for which was laid on Sevoke Road here last week.

To come up on five acres at Parivahan Nagar, next to the Uttorayon township, on a plot allotted by the Siliguri-Jalpaiguri Development Authority (SJDA), the hotel will have 134 rooms and 10 suites in its ground-plus-seven floors.

?It will be built in two phases, the first comprising the hotel building and the second a shopping mall, a cineplex and an in-flight kitchen for airline catering,? said M.P. Agarwal, the managing director of Fortune Resorts and Lipika Enterprises, the promoter of the project. ?The first phase will be completed by 2007.?

Urban development minister and SJDA chairman Asok Bhattacharya said he was happy that an ITC subsidiary was involved in it. ?Once a five-star hotel opens here, economic activity and tourism will increase, paving the way for investors,? he said.

The Rs 120-crore project will have a built-up area of 5 lakh sq.ft, with the hotel taking up 1.45 lakh sq.ft. The ITC group will manage, market and promote it, Agarwal said.

?Lipika Enterprises will fund 30 per cent of the cost, while the remaining will by provided by banks,? he said. ?We hope to start the construction next month.?

According to Bhattacharya, now that litigation over the land near North Bengal Medical College has ended, the SJDA will go ahead with the new township project beyond the third Mahananda bridge. ?A Sports Authority of India complex will also come up in this area,? he added.