Three iconic hotels in the Capital — Taj Mansingh, The Connaught and Asian International, are all set to be auctioned by this year-end. The decision comes after the NDMC's council meeting, chaired by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday, approved the decision.
The tender process for the auction is to start this month itself.
The three hotel properties located at 1, Mansingh Road, 37, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Road and 1, Janpath Lane, respectively have expired their lease term of 33 years. In the case of the 294-room luxury Taj Mansingh hotel, the hotel had been fighting a legal battle of over six years over increasing its lease, however the NDMC was not in favour.
The other two hotels had been in a tiff with the civic body for not paying long pending license fee dues.
NDMC vice-chairman Karan Singh Tanwar after the Council meeting said, "The Council had deliberated on the proposal of auction of three hotels. There will be an e-auction for the properties, which will be conducted through M/s MSTC Ltd., a Central PSU. The tendering process is to start this month at the earliest."
The civic body which functions under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had sealed both The Connaught and Asian International hotels last year over pending fee dues amounting to Rs 140 crores and Rs 56 crores, respectively.
The annual license fee for The Connaught and Asian International stands at Rs 5.67 crores and Rs 1.19 crores, respectively.
The average financial turnover in three years of the three hotels Taj Mansingh, The Connaught and Asian International stand at Rs 400 crores, Rs 18 crores and Rs 6 crores.
However, according to officials, the new worth of the bidders for the three hotels has been estimated at Rs 300 crores, Rs 20 crores and Rs 6 crores.
According to senior officials who were present in the meeting, the e-auction will start above percentage revenue sharing of 17.25% of the gross revenue. The transaction advisor for the auction will be SBI Capital Market Limited.
The bidding parameters for participation in the e-auction will include — percentage revenue sharing of Gross Revenue and minimum guarantee fee linked with the annual Wholesale Price Index
