Policy: Travel, Additional FAR, Delhi Hotels, Commonwealth Games, India

Additional FAR may prove to be a costly affair for Delhi hotels

If information about the Committee of Secretaries’ (CoS) recommendation on the premium to be charged on additional FAR for Delhi hotels is true, there will not be many takers for the increased FAR in Delhi. Over-ruling the recommendations by the Delhi Lt Governor and Delhi Development Authority (DDA), the Committee of Secretaries, Government of India is learnt to have suggested a 75 per cent premium, with a clause for an additional 25 per cent, if projects are not complete before the Commonwealth Games.

After persistent lobbying by hotel associations, DDA and the Lt Governor of Delhi had advocated 25 per cent premium as per the zonal auction rates with application for additional FAR, and an additional 50 per cent if the project is not complete by August 31, 2010. It is reliably learnt that, after studying the suggestions from the DDA and Lt Governor of Delhi, the Committee of Secretaries, in its last meeting, has decided to advocate a 75 per cent premium on the additional FAR.

Making the first move against the CoS recommendation, the Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) has taken up this matter with Ambika Soni, Union Minister of Tourism; “We have decided to take up this matter seriously with the Group of Ministers (GoM), which is a monitoring group constituted for the Commonwealth Games. We met M S Gill, Minister of State for Sports & Youth Affairs, who happens to be the Secretary of the GoM, and apprised him about repercussions of the same,” informed Harish Sud, Secretary General, FHRAI. “There will not be any takers for the additional FAR, if it becomes so expensive,” he added.

“Where is the incentive then?” asked an official from the Hotel Association of India (HAI). “This means that these people do not realise the matter’s importance. After all, the Government or land owning agencies are not providing any land for additional construction, nor are they investing any money. It is the industry, which is spending money, and it has to see that there is business beyond 2010. On one hand, the Government seeks the industry’s cooperation for a national cause, while at the same time their agencies act like real estate agents,” concluded the official.

Nov 3, 2008
Source: Hospitality Biz India
URL: http://www.hospitalitybizindia.com/detailNews.aspx?aid=2485&sid=1#