Emaar MGF project fails to take off in Dehra Dun

Three years after Emaar MGF Consortium and Inter Continental Hotel group jointly won the bid for constructing a five-star hotel in Dehra Dun, the project has not yet taken off.

The 165-room hotel is being constructed on 10 acres of land at Garhi Cantonment area of Dehra Dun. After winning the contract, the company faced the heat of the recession following which it sought permission from the government to construct a mall in the allotted land. The company was of the view that construction of the mall would be a better option for making the project viable.

Agreeing to the demand of the Emaar MGF, the Uttarakhand tourism department which signed the agreement, sought necessary permission from the government. Top officials told Business Standard that the government is not in a mood to grant permission to the company for constructing the mall. “We have not got any final word from the government on the demand made by the company,” said a tourism official.

Under the agreement, the company was to complete the project in two years time. The Uttarakhand government is providing the land under Private Public Partnership (PPP) mode with a monthly licence fee of Rs 51.35 lakh per month and annual lease rent of Rs 15.63 lakh for a period of 30 years.

The government was expected to earn a revenue of Rs 7 crore per year through this project. Though, the consortium has given the first installment of Rs 1.20 crore, the government is losing out on the annual revenue.

Besides 165 rooms, the hotel will have a swimming pool, a health club, a business hall, a 260-seat meeting hall. “The government is not too keen to develop big projects in Dehra Dun. This may be one reason which is hindering the project,” said an official.