Tirupati: Haritha hotel fortune to change

Tirupati: Five years after it was put in the cold storage, the 103-room Haritha hotel project taken up by the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) near Alipiri is likely to become functional as a private company which runs Fortune Group of Hotels in Hyderabad had come forward to take up the hotel furnishing, operations and management of the hotel. The APTDC will get the lease amount only.

The APTDC has spent Rs 11 crore on this proposed star hotel in 1.03 acres and completed the preliminary civil works. At one stage, the APTDC intended to complete the remaining works and operate on its own for which they needed around Rs 10 crore, but they could not get the government clearance. Though APTDC made several attempts to give it on lease, the response was not encouraging. Finally, the APTDC accepted a bid and issued Letter of Intent (LoI) for operation and maintenance (O&M) of the hotel on November 24 to a private operator.

The private operator has been asked to furnish a DD for Rs 16 lakh as non-refundable payment towards project development fee and bank guarantee for Rs 1.53 crore as the lease rent for one year.

The lease rent will be enhanced at 5 per cent every year up to the lease period of 33 years. They were asked to furnish these along with executing a service agreement within 30 days. Now, it has to be seen whether the company to which they issued the LoI will come forward by fulfilling all requirements or not.