55 per cent hotel rooms in Capital ready for use,Tourism ministry told

Apart from hotels,the Ministry was informed of the plan to use government guesthouses,hostels under educational institutes and Delhi University,as well as tented accommodations in Haryana to accommodate the high number of guests.

Among hotels in the Capital,there are 10,268 ‘definite’ rooms being readied at present,while 1,757 rooms are available under the ‘likely’ category. In the ‘definite’ category,5,645 rooms have been completed; the rest is in progress.

Till the last review meeting held in early September,4,238 rooms had been completed. An additional 1,407 hotel rooms have been completed in the past few weeks.

At Wednesday’s meeting,it was also decided that the 5,500 DDA residential flats coming up at Vasant Kunj and Jasola,which would be furnished and operated by the India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) for the Games,should be ready and handed over to the ITDC in phases between January and May next year to enable timely furnishing.

The Delhi government was advised to aggressively market their bed and breakfast (B&B) scheme to meet their target of 3,000 B&B units for the Games. At present,there are 1,534 B&B units available in Delhi and NCR.

Selja said once the housing projects are completed,government agencies should ensure the speedy issuance of completion certificates. She also directed the agencies to prepare a checklist for monitoring violations,if any,by builders so they could be cautioned well in time to rectify the same.

The Minister said there is a requirement of an additional 30,000 hotel rooms in Delhi and NCR for 2010. All hotel projects coming up for the Games should be ready and completed by June next year to make the Games a success.

The meeting was attended by Secretary (Tourism) Sujit Banerjee and representatives of the governments of Delhi,Uttar Pradesh,Haryana,Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports,Urban Development,Railways,DDA,NDMC,MCD,Delhi Police,DIAL and ITDC.

Accommodation plans
Number of hotel rooms in ‘definite’ category: 10,268

Number of hotel rooms in ‘likely’ category: 1,757

Required rooms: 30,000

Number of DDA flats coming in Jasola and Vasant Kunj: 5,500

B&B units available in the NCR: 1,534

Required: 3,000

Number of government guesthouse rooms to be used: 11,000

Number of hostel beds of educational institutions to be used: 3,250