Hotels Queue for R & B network
With the Department of Tourism planning to convert old guesthouses and buildings into a chain of budget hotels, the struggle to acquire the project among top companies, has increased. More than 20 companies have been selected to construct 34 hotels on BOT (build, operate and transfer) basis for 33 years. The cost would range form 10-40crores depending on location. Under this the tourism dept. and R & B dept. has packaged 4-5 towns into one. The Vizag-Vijayanagaram-Srikakulam-Araku-Paderu package got the highest bid of 17, of which 15 were short-listed. Nalgonda-Sangareddy-Medak and Siddipet-Keesargutta packages got lowest number of five bids. The chain ranges from A+++ to D, a division of seven has been given. Very high potential hotels will come in Vizag and Vijayawada. Kurnool, Anantapur, Kadappa, Chittoor, Mahbubnagar, Nellore, Ongole, Chirala, Vodarevu, Guntur, Machilipatnam, will have similar hotels. Budget hotels will be developed in some coastal and telangana areas.
Each hotel will be facilitated with A.C. rooms, restaurant, gyms, departmental store, tourism kiosk, souvenir shop, communication and conference. For A-grade hotels room rate would be around Rs900. The CM insisted that rooms would be made available to govt. employees at Rs100/day.