NEW DELHI: The Centre is likely to give up on the plan to monetise stadiums, while reworking the strategy for the iconic Ashok Hotel in the national capital. It is likely to offer the hotel under the PPP mode through a single transaction, sources told TOI.
This means the plan to monetise asset of the state-run Ashok Hotel has been delayed. In 2021, the Centre was set to transfer the hotel to the private sector on a 60-year contract. The plan included three land parcels to be offered on a long-term lease of up to 90 years for development of serviced apartments, a hotel and a shopping mall.
“The earlier plan may have changed but now, after the roadshows, they are looking at monetising it in an integrated way rather than separate parcels and split transactions. The tourism ministry is working on it,” said an official aware of the developments. “It may be a single transaction now,” the official added.
In the past, tourism ministry officials were reluctant to push for its monetisation, although the property is put to little use, with govt not even willing to list it for the stay of any of the high-profile guests during G20 or other prominent events.
The official said the plan to monetise stadia has been put on the backburner as there is a need to provide training facilities to sportspersons with the emphasis on sports across the country.
Under the earlier monetisation plan, the Centre was on the verge of appointing a transaction adviser for Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and Indira Gandhi Indoor stadium in the national capital. Two other stadiums in Zirakpur and Bengaluru were also identified. The surplus land at Jawaharlal Nehru stadium was planned to be used for a shopping mall, offices and hostels for sportspersons. The total value of assets considered for monetisation by the sports ministry under the national asset monetisation plan was estimated at Rs 11,450 crore for FY 2022-2025.
The Centre had unveiled a Rs 6-lakh-crore asset monetisation plan over the next four years. Assets which have been identified include roads, power transmission and generation, gas pipelines, warehousing, railways, telecom, 25 airports, 31 projects in nine major ports, coal and mineral mining, sports stadia, redevelopment of colonies. Only brownfield assets will be considered and land has been left out and funds raised would be used for building fresh infrastructure.
On Friday, DIPAM secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey told TOI that now realisations from asset monetisation and disinvestment or privatisation have been merged and there won’t be a specific target for disinvestment from now on. For next year, the Centre expects Rs 12,000-15,000 crore from asset monetisation transactions.
Source: The Times of India
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