The famous mental hospital at Amritsar named Dr Vidya Sagar Mental Institute may soon pave way for a five star and a three star hotel as per a proposal mooted by the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB). Interestingly, the government had already proposed multiplexes on jail lands in Punjab on the plea that jails could be shifted to sites outside cities and prime land under these could be bartered for multiplexes.
The hotels would be built on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis. Since Amritsar holds huge potential for tourism, the PIDB is trying to market the holy city as ?a world-class tourist destination?. Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA) would collaborate with PIDB for this project.
The proposed hotels to be built on the mental institute land would fall in the New City centre area and would be linked with the monorail to be plied between the airport and the Golden Temple . Sources said that the five star hotel would come up on four acres of land while the three star hotel would be built on a three acre piece of land belonging to the mental institute.
The state government also proposes to construct an access -controlled Ring Road around Amritsar and ?upgrade? Neem Chameli Tourist Complex at Wagah Boarder under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. Gurpartap Singh Mann, chief general manager of the PIDB told FE that total cost on the proposed the five star and a three star hotel would be Rs 100 crore and Rs75 crore respectively.
The government has invited ?expression of interest? from interested hotel chains to determine eligibility criteria. The PIDB has floated expressions of interest from international bidders and joint venture parties for developing the hotels under public-private partnership format on design, build, operate and transfer basis. The selected bidder has to plan, design, finance, construct, operate and manage the project.
Giving more details about the projects, Mann informed that the projects would be commissioned on revenue sharing model. He, however, said that the selected hotel chain would first deposit an upfront payment with the government and then share revenue with the government after commissioning of the hotels. He said after Expression of Interest, the process of bidding would start to give final shape to these projects.