Railways identify 20 locations for budget hotels

New Delhi, Mar 1 (UNI) The Railways have decided to set up a hundred budget hotels all over its network through Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), out of which tenders for 20 locations have been finalised, the Lok Sabha was informed today.

In a written reply, Minister of State for Railways R Velu said these hotels would be set up by IRCTC on the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model on the unused railway land in the vicinity of stations.

''Out of these 100 budget hotels, tenders for 20 locations have been finalised and tenders for another 10 floated,'' he said.

''Since tendering system is in progress, the construction work may take about two years after finalisation of contract and signing of agreements.'' The minister said the IRCTC had been entrusted with the task of setting up, operating and maintaining budget hotels through private participation under a transparent and competitive two-packet tender system -- technical and financial.

The IRCTC, in consultation with the Zonal Railways, identifies the sites, floats and finalises the tenders by inviting private sector participation. The license period has been fixed as 30 years.

Contract will be given to a tenderer who has qualified in technical bidding and has bid the maximum return to IRCTC over the period of license.

Budget hotels are basically extension of retiring rooms and Rail Yatri Niwas. By using these hotels, passengers will save the cost and time in transportation to a hotel located in the city.

The minister said these hotels would also help the railways in developing tourism.

UNI