Sudipta Dev – Shillong
The Government of Meghalaya has a strong focus on developing the hospitality sector in the state, and to attract potential investors it is looking at developing land banks for hotel projects. In an interaction with Food & Hospitality World, Dr Mukul Sangma, chief minister, Meghalaya said, “Among the organised sector to attract investment in hospitality, the most important component is to create a land bank at appropriate locations. We are looking at certain locations which are ideal for high end hotels. This exercise is on.” The chief minister aims to project the state as a high end destination for leisure and MICE travellers.
The state government has had initial engagement with potential partners from the hospitality sector. “The locations being looked at are away from the hustle and bustle of city, in picturesque places where multiple products (like golf resorts) can be developed,” stated Dr Sangma, adding that the state does not have too many government properties (managed by Meghalaya Tourism Development Corporation) and is not looking at marketing brownfield projects.
Development of land banks for hospitality is being done on a priority basis, despite the many challenges. Dr Sangma pointed out that in a state where the land is owned by private owners whenever the government has to look at a development programme it has to be ensured that the land is there as the first component. “To attract investment, the land issue has to be solved in advance because without that everything will hit the wall. There is a new law passed for land acquisition so the process will be a bit lengthy. When we acquire land, the outgo from the public exchequer is higher as there is a multiplier effect, to give maximum benefit to the owners of the land. The most challenging thing is that as these are seen as investments, in the absence of availability of that kind of fund for government organisations as corpus, the government will have to pay in advance which affects our other development programmes.”
Promotion of rural tourism and eco tourism are the focus areas. “We have also been investing substantial money to built that kind of infrastructure to promote eco tourism with communities and that has been an immense success story,” he said adding that more communities are now willing to come forward and participate. The state government has a programme supporting homestays and eco resorts.
“There is however inhibition among people to link their project with credit flow and this is coming in the way. We want to involve banks and are trying to convince potential entrepreneurs through financial literacy programmes,” he mentioned.
