Shillong, May 31 : Since 1986, the Crowborough Hotel here has been a symbol of an ambitious project gone wrong.
Today, the hotel got a new “lease” of life when the Meghalaya government and a local entrepreneur signed an agreement, the first step towards turning the Shillong address into a major commercial space with help from a reputed hospitality chain.Facilitated by Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS), the lease agreement was signed today between local entrepreneur Leslee Shylla and K.L. Tariang, managing director of the Meghalaya Tourism Development Corporation in Shillong.
As part of the private-public partnership model, the lessee also tied up with resort developer T.K. Internationals, which will develop the barren structure of Crowborough and turn it into a workable commercial space.
Shyamkanu Mahanta, the Northeast head of IL&FS, said the private-public partnership model would ensure that the state government gets a steady return for 33 years — the term of lease.
The government will earn Rs 1.73 crore per annum with an increase of 10.5 per cent after every three years.
Tourism minister Conrad Sangma, who was present at the signing ceremony, said Meghalaya would take up more projects in the private-public partnership mode.
Work on the Crowborough Hotel, located at Police Bazar, had started in 1986 but was stopped following disputes which led to court cases between the government of Meghalaya and contractors.
An impatient government finally entrusted IL&FS to create a private-public partnership model for the project.
Chairman of the Meghalaya Tourism Development Corporation, Mason Singh Sangma, said the remaining work at the hotel would be undertaken with the help of the lessee at the earliest.
Telegraph India
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