By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Sep 27: Shillong-based hospitality firm, Hotel Polo Towers Group, which set up its first hotel in Shillong in 1991 — a Government-of-India-classified four-star hotel — filling a void by catering to tourists and dignitaries alike, has now ventured into Nagaland to set up five-star hotels in the sister state, whilst still keeping Meghalaya in their priority list whenever there’s a window of opportunity.
The firm has signed an agreement with the Department of Tourism, Nagaland government, to set up two five-star hotels, including one with a mall.
Speaking to The Shillong Times on Wednesday, Hotel Polo Towers Group director Deval Tibrewalla said as natives of Meghalaya, they always want to do something here; however, the land holding system makes things complicated.
“We are not able to get a land on lease from the government and there is no opportunity in Meghalaya at the moment,” Tibrewalla said.
He, however, said that they have approached the Meghalaya government to express their willingness to do something in the state.
“Doing a project in Meghalaya is in our priority list,” he said.
Citing the example of how long Crowborough Hotel (Now Taj Vivanta) and Courtyard by Mariott took to complete, Tibrewalla admitted that it is not easy implementing big hotel projects in Meghalaya.
However, we managed to complete a five star hotel in Tripura in less than three years, he said.
“We continued our construction even during the time of Covid-19 pandemic. We inaugurated the project immediately after the pandemic in 2021,” the Hotel Polo Towers Group director said.
While taking about the upcoming two five star hotels in Nagaland, he said that they were invited by the Nagaland government to attend an investor summit.
Following which, they submitted a proposal to the Nagaland government to express their interest in taking up hotel projects there.
The project is likely to take off in the next months, and the group aims to complete the two projects in three years time.
The proposed five star hotel with a mall is to be set up in Dimapur, while the other is to come up in Kohima; the estimated investment for them being Rs 150 crore.
Both the projects, with over 200 high-end rooms, will be set up under public-private partnership model and will operate on design, build, maintain, operate, manage and transfer (DBMOMT) basis, Tibrewalla said. He added that the group has also been approached by the Assam government for a project.