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Where are the hotels for the games?

But, the urgency does not seem to have dawned on the Delhi Development Authority (DDA). Less than two years to go for the Commonwealth Games, the sole land development agency in the capital is still in the process of inviting bids for its hotel plots.

DDA Still inviting bids
On Friday, DDA invited fresh bids for four hotel sites in Shastri Park, Dwarka Sector – 14 and Mangolpuri Industrial Area. The bids will be opened on March 15 after which it will take another couple of weeks before announcing the final bids.

"After the successful bidder is handed possession of the land, he/she will have to run around to get over a dozen clearances from a different civic agencies. It will be only by the end of the year or early next year before work starts on ground. At this rate it is just next impossible to finish work by October 2010. There is no magic wand at work that will transform a vacant land into a hotel," said Rajendra Kumar, President Hotel and Restaurant Association of Northern India (HRANI).

Established hoteliers in the Capital said it takes anything between two and two-and-a-half years to complete a hotel and make it operational.

According to DDA’s own estimates, Delhi will have about 1.5 lakh tourists during the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

At present Delhi has 10,000 approved room in both the star and budget category and according to International Olympic Association the city will be in need of 40,000 rooms to meet tourist requirement during the Games.

Present status
The DDA has in the last one year put 38 plots for auction for setting up star hotels in delhi but it could sell only 13 plots. The poor response forced the authority to slash the reserve price of hotel plots twice-first by 10 per cent and then by up to 20 per cent. When the agency failed to get a good response even after this, it changed the mode of disposal from auction to inviting tenders. "We changed the mode of disposal as we felt that open auctions often deter interested buyers to come forward. At times even if a buyer is interested, he/she does not come forward if there are no other bidders for the plot. This will not be the case in the tendering system," said a DDA official.

But even the tendering system failed to attract buyers. The figures speak for themselves. Last August, of the 11 plots for which DDA invited tenders it managed to get bids for just six. The problem, hoteliers say, is unviable locations of the sites. "Who will be interested to open a hotel in Mangolpuri. It's not just the games. An hotelier will have to sustain his business even after the Games. DDA is interested in just selling the vacant land earmarked for hotel sites. It is not bothered about the end result," said Kumar

DDA still doing patchwork
Now, the DDA is in the process of making another amendment to its rules so that the city gets the desired hotel rooms by 2010. It is planning to increase the FAR of exiting hotels so that owners can add more rooms in the existing hotels. The policy will be sent to Urban Development Ministry shortly for final approval.

"We have been demanding this for the last two years. Now that the situation has gone out of their hand, the DDA has finally conceded to our proposal. But it's too little, too late," said a senior official of Federation of Hotel and Restaurants Association of Northern India.

• 38 - Plots put on auction by DDA since March 2006
• 13 - Plots sold
• 10 - Number of plots successful bidders have taken possession of
• 4 - Plots on which work has started
• 1.5 lakh tourists estimated by DDA during the 2010 Commonwealth Games
• 15,000 Existing shortfall in hotel rooms in both star and budget category
• 40,000 Projected shortfall in hotel rooms in 2010

Existing Government approved hotels and rooms in Delhi as on April 2007.

Source: Hindustan Times