Lavasa’s first business hotel takes off

Elaborating on the expansion plans for Lavasa,Gulabchand said,“The aim is to make Lavasa a preferred destination for business,education and leisure. Hospitality and education are the two key pegs of the Hill City,into which around Rs 1,500 crore has been invested so far. We expect the total investment in the first phase of development to be around Rs 2,000 crore. Meanwhile,infrastructure work for the second phase has commenced.”

Apart from ITC,Lavasa had tied up with Accor (Pullman,Novotel and Grand Mercure),Gulabchand said. “We have alliances with Oxford University,Girls’ Day School Trust of the UK,and Symbiosis. Around 10-15 colleges will come up here,including a school of urban management,school of design and a school of animation. We expect around 10,000 students to be here by 2012.” When asked whether there were any setbacks owing to the economic slowdown,Gulabchand said,“We have not had cancellations because of the slowdown and have in fact, entered into new commitments for the all-out development of Lavasa. A sports convention centre,cricket ground,police and fire stations,multiplexes,and a 150-bed hospital from Apollo Hospitals are all in the pipeline.” A similar project has been planned in a special investment zone in Gujarat and a memorandum of understanding signed,he added.