The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has decided to extend the lease of Hotel Taj Mansingh with its current operator, Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL), by one more year, but will chose a new operator within the year through an open auction, giving the IHCL the first right of refusal.
The decision was taken by the NDMC council today.
The hotel building is owned by the civic body and is being run by IHCL on a 33-year lease, which expired last year and was extended till October 2012.
NDMC had appointed consulting firm Ernst & Young to determine the valuation of the property and explore other options such as finding another partner or even auctioning the landmark hotel.
The property had drawn interest from several parties including PRS Oberoi, Chairman, EIH Ltd, which owns the Oberoi Group of Hotels, Kolkata-based apart from companies like Sahara and Accor. But the civic body decided to extend the lease following concerns raised in the Ernst & Young report that NDMC may have to lose substantial business during the two-year period that a new operator will require to take over the bare hotel from IHCL and commence operations, according to The Economics Times report.
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