Sinclairs to invest Rs 2,000 mn

Kolkata: Kolkata based Sinclairs Hotels limited is looking at investing over Rs 200 crore in West Bengal in the next five years for the expansion of its hotel chain as well as develop a hotel management institute near Kolkata.

It signed a memorandum of understanding( MoU) with the West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation(WBTDC) and Sundarban Infrastructure Development Corporation(SIDC).

The West Bengal government signed up two major players in a single day after it announced its Tourism policy on April 4, the other being major real estate developer Emaar MGF.

Sinclairs would build service apartments at Siliguri adjacent to its property there, besides developing a resort with golf course in North Bengal and adding a modern spa to the Sinclairs Chalsa Retreat. We have been doing business in North Bengal for some time now, and knew the infrastructure well, said Navin Suchanti, chief executive officer & managing director of Sinclairs Hotels. Completing the circuit, Sinclairs will build a resort in Kalimpong as well as scout for opportunities in Sikkim, said Suchanti. Sinclairs already had three properties in North Bengal.

It was also planning to come up with a business hotel at Salboni in Medinipore and a luxury hotel in Kolkata. Manab Mukherjee, state tourism minister, said at the meet that his department was looking at developing hotels in Raghunathpur near Salboni and would be in talks with Sinclairs on that.

This apart, Mukherjee also informed that WBTDC would float a joint venture with SIDC to develop infrastructure at Jharkhali in Sundarbans.

Nearly 400 hectares of land was identified for developing tourism in the area and work would start soon after the Panchayat elections, he added.

Sinclairs had plans to come up with an eco-friendly, ethnic resort at Jharkhali. While Emaar MGF also had an eye on the area, Sinclairs would look towards developing a property catering to the upper tier of the mid-market segment rather than developing a premier luxury resort, Suchanti said.

As for the hotel management institute, it was in the process of identifying land, and work should start by the end of this year. The institute will come up with an investment of Rs25 crore and will train 600 students in a span of three years.

The net direct employment to be generated from all these initiatives put together will be over 1750 people, claimed Suchanti.