Rajasthan News

Tijara Fort hopes fast response from Raje Govt

by RajasthanDirect
Jan 08, 2014

Tijara Fort of Alwar, first PPP project in Rajasthan is getting a new life now. Several years of delayed work progress at government level, the hotel is likely to spring to life with chief minister Vasundhara Raje’s office enquiring on the reasons for the delay in launching the state’s first PPP project in tourism.

The only art decor hotel in Rajasthan done by niche artists in the country will script a new story in restoration by Aman Nath and Francis Wacziarg of the Neemrana Hotels. And once opened to public, it would move the project out of “perpetual policy paralysis” (PPP) to a feather in the cap of state’s commitment to public private partnership projects.

In a rare work of art, the Rani Mahal with 21 rooms has each one embellished with paintings, murals and craft work by the likes of Anjolie Ela Menon, Anju Dodiya, Amrita Shergill among others and two craft leaders Laila Tyabji and Jaya Jaitley who have commissioned master craftsmen to do textiles and crafts for the Tijara rooms to honour them.

“We have been ready to operate the property since February 2013 but were unable to procure the certificate and necessary clearances from RTDC. As a result, while we have been paying the committed lease money, we have lost business worth Rs 6 cr at 50% occupancy at the current tariff. We were assured that a single window clearance will give us the required approvals needed for operation of the property. The state government should ensure that these be done without any delay. As it is Rajasthan’s first PPP in tourism, it should demonstrate how the hotel permissions can be managed by public partners with greatest possible speed,” said Aman Nath, co-chairman, Neemrana Hotels.

Ironically the project in the land of the mining mafia and with high crime rate is already generating employment for the locals with 30-40 people already working on the rolls in a property that is not functioning.

In fact, RTDC wanted a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to be made after they had registered this agreement with Neemrana Hotels Private Limited. Soon, the project got stuck despite an investment of Rs 20 crore by the private developer.

“This had been discussed at the pre-bid meet and after private investors (initially 14 bidders) felt that Tijara would be a rather high investment, low return venture; they expressed the need to put the possibility of a SPV-JVT in case outside loans may have to be inducted. This was then added in the terms and conditions, but not as a compulsory obligation if the private party could raise and invest its own funds. If this was mandatory, it should have been pointed out right at the beginning by RTDC. All investments made by Neemrana Hotels cannot be disinvested and put into a new company now. This cannot be done in retrospect,” said Aman Nath.

src: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Tijara-fort-hopes-to-script-new-dawn-in-tourism/articleshow/28531051.cms

Comments are closed.