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Lone hotel for air passengers
Posted by Srini Uppala | December 11, 2007 | 654 views
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Loading ...Passengers touching down at the new airport in Shamshabad will have no place to stay nearby except the 300-room business hotel being developed by GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd. Though the Hyderabad Urban Development Authority had earlier announced a plan to open a hotel corridor project — Regal Broadway — near the airport, it is yet to assume concrete shape.
There is also talk that the hotel corridor might be moved from the vicinity of the International Airport to Budvel. “We are in the process of finding out whether the Regal Broadway would be viable at Budvel,” said Huda vice-chairman, Mr Jayesh Ranjan. “We have set up a committee for this purpose.” GMR’s business hotel, on the other hand, will be coming up once the airport opens on March 16, 2008.
However, this hotel would only be able to cater to a small percentage of the 15,000 passengers who are expected to fly down to the Shamshabad airport every day. And this number is set to increase further. Till Huda readies the Regal Broadway, most of the passengers will have to travel to the city for a place to stay. “As of now, we do not have any other five-star or budget hotels coming up near the airport,” said a GMR spokersperson. “We have plans to build a luxury hotel and a transit hotel, but they will come up only when the airport enters phase two of its construction.”
However, no date has yet been fixed for the commencement of phase two. The government reconsidered the plan for the hotel corridor as it would have needed a revision of GO 111 to facilitate commercial activities around the catchment areas of Osmansagar and the Himayatsagar.
But Huda and GMR are equivocal about the viability of the project. “There is no doubt that the Regal Broadway will be profitable as the traffic through this airport will be very high,” said Mr Ranjan.
“Once we get clearance from the state government, we will develop it as fast as possible.” Andhra Pradesh Hotels Association’s advisor, Mr M.S. Nagaraju, said that if the state government leased out land near the airport, big players in the hospitality industry would be willing to set up hotels in Shamshabad.
“Otherwise, the cost of land is too high for such projects to be viable,” he said. “I believe we need hotels for passengers belonging to different strata of the society. Budget hotels must also be set up for domestic passengers.”
SOURCES:
Deccan Chronicle
Topics: Govt Failures, Hospitality |
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