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Boby Kurian
Sankar Radhakrishnan

Bangalore

Thiruvananthapuram , July 25

THE Lalit Suri-managed Bharat Hotels Ltd has evinced interest in setting up a hospitality project at Bekal in Kasargod district of Kerala. This comes even as the Kerala State Cabinet earlier this week approved Leela Group's proposed joint venture with Tourist Resorts Kerala Ltd (TRKL), a State Government undertaking, for a luxury beach resort in Bekal.

The Minister for Tourism and Fisheries in the Kerala Government, Mr K.V. Thomas, said Mr Lalit Suri, Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Hotels, was keen on a project in Bekal, the emerging coastal tourist destination in North Kerala. "Mr Suri has expressed interest in taking one of the sites (which is under open bidding)," Mr Thomas said.

It must be mentioned that the State Government through Bekal Resorts Development Corporation (BRDC) has developed six sites for development of resorts with private sector participation.

Among these sites, one each has been allotted to the joint venture companies of Taj and Oberoi groups respectively. Meanwhile, the State Cabinet in its last sitting has approved Leela Group's plan to develop a luxury beach resort, which upon completion will resemble a native Kerala village.

Mr Thomas said the proposal was approved with the stipulation that Leela should pay the price of the highest bidder for taking over two sites in Bekal. The State's participation in the proposed joint venture will be through TRKL, a subsidiary company of Kerala State Tourism Development Corporation Ltd.

It is learnt that Mr Lalit Suri has been extremely bullish about kick-starting a project in Bekal even as the bidding process for the sites were on. Sources said his interest came in the wake of the unfolding plans of the rival hotel chains in the Kerala market, which has emerged as the top tourist destination in the country.

While Taj has a chain of properties in the State, the Oberoi has talked about three projects at Alleppy, Thekkady and, of course, Bekal. The Leela Group has also been mulling significant investments and has hinted at two more projects apart from Bekal.

Bharat Hotels, owners of `The Grand' group of hotels, has seven luxury hotels in the country's metro and destination cities offering more than 1,600 rooms in the five-star deluxe segment.

These include `The Grand' InterContinental hotels in New Delhi, Mumbai, Goa and Srinagar along with `The Grand' hotels in Bangalore, Udaipur and Khajuraho. Its only existing property in the South, The Grand Ashok, Bangalore, was acquired from the ITDC in November 2001.

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