K'taka Tourism to build three hotels

The Karnataka Tourism department has identified three places, with a high tourism potential, for building three-star hotels under public-private partnership (PPP).

These places are Marawanthe in Udupi district, Kodachadri in Shimoga district and Belur in Hassan district.

The department recently invited bids from the interested hotel groups and received bids from major hotel groups in the country.

Among those who evinced interest are Mahindra Holidays, Park Hotel Group, Baljee Hotels Group, Subhash Projects and Surya Samudra Resorts of Kerala, in which industrialist-turned politician Rajeev Chandrashekar has a stake.

According to G Kumar Naik, commissioner, department of tourism, Karnataka, these hotels will be developed under the PPP model. While the tourism department will provide land for these hotels, the selected private companies will invest money and develop the hotels. The department is presently in the process of identifying land for each of the three hotels, he said.

"We have identified major tourism destinations in the state for improving infrastructure and mainly develop some world class hotels at places where there is no decent hotel for travellers to stay. To start with, we will develop hotels at these places and in the next phase build hotels in other destinations," Naik told Business Standard.

The Baljee Hotels Group has expressed interest in setting up hotels at Belur and Marawanthe, while Mahindra Holidays is keen to put up a star category resort at Marawanthe, he said adding that the final bidder for each of these places will be decided in about two months.

In the next stage, the tourism department proposes to develop hotels at other important places of interest to tourists like Pattadkal, Badami and Bijapur in northern Karnataka, Naik said.

Marawanthe is a beach town where the National Highway No. 17 passes along the Arabian sea on one side, and the river Sauparnika against the picturesque Kodachadri Hills forms the backdrop on the other. It is also a place suitable for water sports.

Kodachadri, about 100 km from Shimoga, is a hill overlooking the Western Ghats. The 1,343-metre peak can be reached by a five-hour trek.

The temple town of Kollur is just about 12 km from here. The area is one of the largest forest areas in Karnataka, and part of this forms the Mookambika Nature Reserve. Belur is home to Hoysala architecture.

In addition to these three places, the state tourism department is also building a 20-room hotel at Kodachadri. The hotel, being built at a cost of Rs 3 crore, is presently under construction on a 10-acre plot.

The department is also building an indoor sports complex, a restaurant, 14-twin bed cottages, 36-bed dormitory, conference hall and shopping centre at this place. Kodachadri is an ideal destination for promoting adventure tourism.