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Kolkata's Sinclairs Hotels draws up expansion plans

Kolkata's Sinclairs Hotels Limited will invest Rs 50 crore to set up new hotels and upgrade the existing ones over the next five years. "We'd like to concentrate in the eastern region and all our new properties will be located in this part of the country. More than acquisitions, we're keen to set up 'Greenfield' projects on our own," said Navin Suchanti, chairman, Sinclairs Hotels Ltd. Sinclairs currently has properties in Ooty, Darjeeling, Port Blair, and Chalsa and Siliguri in North Bengal. The hotel chain is also bullish on the prospects of its property at Chalsa in the Dooars region of North Bengal, which has emerged as a major MICE destination of late.

ITC, Taj, Accor Eye Railways Land

ITC, Taj and Accor hotels are eyeing the land owned by Indian Railways to set up budget hotels near railway stations. Talks are already on among the parties and the projects will be developed by railways through a public-private partnership model.

The locations identified for the initial phase include Kolkata, Bhopal and Madurai. The railways, which invited tenders are expecting formal bids by a number of players including Taj, Accor and ITC.

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has specifically mentioned that as many as half of the room inventory should have tariff lower than Rs 1000 a day.

The railways are expecting the take the next phase of the project to Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Pune, Nagpur, Amritsar, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Tirupati, Coimbatore, Baroda, Ernakulam, Ooty, and Vijayawada. As per the norm set by IRCTC, the hotel groups interested will develop, operate, and maintain the budget hotels for 30 years.