State to lease its hotels to private firms

LUCKNOW: In order to make state-run hotels and tourist bungalows viable, the state government has decided to lease out most of such properties on long-term basis to private players. This was one of the cabinet decisions taken recently.
"Other than 11 hotels and tourist bungalows run by the state tourism development corporation, the remaining 68 will shortly be put up for private lease," said tourism minister Vinod Singh.The (renewable) lease will be granted for 30 years. There are some 450 government employees working in these hotels and bungalows.
The minister said that decision has been taken to make these properties viable. He also added that there will be no change in their service conditions. The minister also said that 26 of these hotels and bungalows have remained closed for years. The 14, which were open, are running heavy losses.
Lease-holders will be selected through open bids and they will be expected to make the establishments operational in six months. Tourism secretary, Manoj Kumar Singh, said, private players will be given a grace period of five years to develop these hotels into two or three-star level hotels. Tourism department is hopeful that the move will shoot up its annual profit from Rs 4 crore to at least Rs 20 crore in the first year itself.