NDMC relaxes norms for auction of Taj Man Singh hotel

The New Delhi Municipal Corporation, one of the four municipal bodies in Delhi and also the Capital’s richest, on Wednesday issued relaxed norms to seek more bids for operating the iconic Taj Mahal Hotel. The 292-room hotel, currently run by the Indian Hotels Company, is a 5-star property located in the heart of Lutyen’s Delhi. The new operator will get to run the hotel for 33 years.

The municipal body expects an interested bidder to be operating 500 rooms across a maximum of five hotels, each having a 5-star rating as against the earlier condition of 500 rooms across three 5-star hotels. The previous eligibility condition was stiffer and kept out most of the parties as few operators would have such large properties.

Another restrictive condition that has been junked now allowed only one company to participate in the auction if one held more than 5 per cent stake in the other. ITC Hotels owns 14.98 per cent in EIH and thus only one of the two could bid when on the other hand, both wanted to bid.

The hotel will be auctioned via a two-stage ascending auction, according to the tender documents posted on NDMC’s website. The bids have to be submitted by June 7. The auction, pitting the technically qualified bidders, will take place on June 19. The municipality aims to complete the process by December 31.

The hotel has a built-up area of 2,45,884.79 square feet with seven outlets serving food and beverages.  It has a swimming pool and an open parking space. An auction of the property has been hanging fire for the last seven years with the current operator using legal loopholes to prevent an auction of the property.

Besides Taj Man Singh, the municipality also put out tenders to auction a 4-star called The Connaught on the capital’s Shaheed Bhagat Singh Marg and a 38-room tourist lodge at Janpath Lane.

Source:-https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/ndmc-relaxes-norms-for-auction-of-taj-man-singh-hotel-2557267.html