Floor price of 'Minto Hall' reduced

The Madhya Pradesh government is learnt to have reduced the floor price of Minto Hall from Rs 300 crore to Rs 250 crore, as 2.5 acres has been reduced from the total area of 15 acres.

The state had dropped the India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) and had decided to go solo on the multi-crore project of converting the age-old Minto Hall (which housed the state assembly for years) into a trade and convention centre.

Nawab Sultanjahan Begum (ruler of Bhopal) started the construction of Minto Hall with an investment of Rs 3 lakh in 1909 as a guesthouse near Raj Bhawan. It was then called the Lal Kothi.

To attract more investment, the central government in 2005 had decided to establish an International Convention Centre hub through its own agency ITPO, in association with the state government. But later, the state government disassociated itself with the central government for the project and roped in IL & FS Development Corporation as a consultant.

“An area of 2.5 acres will be used for road and has been reduced from the total land area of 15.5 acres. As a result the bid will be opened at a reserve price of Rs 250 acres from Rs 300 crore,” a source involved in the process of finalising expression of interest informed Business Standard privately and added, “Expression of interest is likely to be floated in a weeks time.”

An empowerment committee, chaired by the state Chief Secretary Rakesh Sahni, is yet to hold a meeting to finalise details of RFQ (Request for Qualification) documents. “The EoI will be floated only after the meeting,” the source further said.

The private player will have to construct a convention-cum-trade-centre on an area of 5 acres and a star-category hotel of 200 rooms on an area of 10 acres adjacent to Minto hall.