New Delhi : A hotel within Pragati Maidan complex will help minimise traffic disruptions and logistic challenges during large-scale events like the G20 Summit in the future.
Following the recent completion of the G20 Summit at the newly developed Pragati Maidan, the India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO), which oversees the complex, is looking to develop a five-star hotel within the 123-acre complex, senior officials aware of the project said on Tuesday.
The initial redevelopment plan for Pragati Maidan in 2019 envisaged a state-of-the-art private hotel, built over a 3.7-acre site at the complex, but the idea failed to materialise following the onset of Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, officials said.
ITPO will float requests for proposals (RFPs) for the project to rope in private companies from the hospitality industry to develop the hotel, which will be a private sector enterprise — ITPO will monetise the land, while the developer would be able to run the facility for a lease period of 99 years.
The initial redevelopment plan for Pragati Maidan in 2019 envisaged a state-of-the-art private hotel, built over a 3.7-acre site at the complex, but the idea failed to materialise following the onset of Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, officials said.
A senior ITPO official said a hotel within the Pragati Maidan complex will help minimise traffic disruptions and logistic challenges faced during large-scale events such as the G20 Summit in the future.
“A hotel within the complex will help further smoothen the process for holding large-scale national and international events at the Bharat Mandapam centre as dignitaries would be able to stay within the complex area,” the official said, requesting anonymity.
The project, however, still remains at the planning stage. ITPO chairman and managing director Pradeep Singh Kharola told to media that with the conclusion of a successful G20 Summit, the organisation will focus on developing other projects.
“It (the G20 Summit) has generated a lot of goodwill for the Bharat Mandapam and the overall facility. Through this (planned) hotel, the people would be able to walk right into the convention centre. Now that the convention and exhibition facilities are ready, the hotel will serve an optimum purpose,” Kharola said.
A second ITPO official, declining to be named, said the hotel project was not executed earlier because of the pandemic, and the economic crisis faced by the hotel industry in its aftermath. “Now the industry has recovered, and the G20 Summit has generated a lot of interest in the Pragati Maidan complex. We hope to get a good response when the process is restarted,” the official said.
In December 2019, the Union government had approved the transfer of 3.7 acres at Pragati Maidan on a 99-year lease for ₹611 crore to set up a five-star hotel. The government said that in order to ensure completion of the hotel project in a fast-track mode, an SPV (special purpose vehicle) would take necessary steps, including selecting a suitable developer and operator third party through a competitive bidding process to construct, run and manage (directly or through a professional brand) the hotel on a long-term fixed lease basis. “Throughout the world, a hotel facility is an integral part of any Meetings, Initiatives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) hub/destination,” the government had said.
Two years later, in November 2021, As per media reports the hotel plans had been delayed. LC Goyal, the then the chief managing director of ITPO, had told to media that the request for proposals (RFP) documents for the hotel project were ready, and ITPO was waiting for an opportune time to invite bids, but it was not receiving a good response from the hotel industry due to the impact of the pandemic.
