Five companies win bids for DIAL hotels around Delhi airport

Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), the GMR Group-led consortium mandated to upgrade the capital's Indira Gandhi International Airport, has given the rights to five companies to develop six hotels in the much-delayed hospitality district around the airport.

The companies that have won the contracts for building the hotels are Accor, InterGlobe Hotels, Lemon Tree, Bird Group and Hyatt, GMR said in a statement. The hotels would be the 3-5 star range, with a total capacity of 2,000 rooms.

"As part of the development of hotels, the developers will offer service facilities like convention centres, restaurants and commercial plazas within the hotel premises to meet the requirements of passengers and airlines,'' the statement said.

The five developers were selected after technical and financial evaluation of all 60 bids received by DIAL, and then approved by the board of directors, based on the best commercial valuation levels offered by the bidders, according to the statement.

GMR holds a 50.1-per cent stake in the joint venture. Other partners in the DIAL the consortium are Airports Authority of India, Fraport, Malaysian Airport and India Development Fund.

In all, DIAL has been able to lease out 17 acres out of the 45 acres allotted to it by the government. The land lease bid, when first proposed in May 2007, ran into controversy, as DIAL proposed a plan that would have seen it raising at least Rs2,835 crore in refundable deposits for 28 years.