The 19th
Commonwealth Games (CWG-2010) are scheduled to be held in New Delhi, between 3 October and 14 October 2010. This would be the largest
multi-sport event conducted in Delhi, which has previously hosted the
Asian Games in 1951 and 1982. The opening ceremony is scheduled to take place
at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi. The Commonwealth Games during 2006
in Melbourne had attracted 90,000 visitors and
it is expected that more than one Lakh visitors would
come to Commonwealth Games 2010. At
present, there are only about 11,000 rooms in the star category hotels in the NCR.
The Ministry of Tourism estimates that 30,000 additional hotel rooms
would be required in the National Capital Region for Commonwealth Games 2010.
Accommodation for the visitors
during the Commonwealth Games is on top priority agenda of the Ministry of Tourism. In order
to meet the shortfall of accommodation the Ministry has been in regular touch
with the ‘Land Owning Agencies’ in the National Capital Region of Delhi for
creation of the additional hotel rooms. A Task Force has been constituted under
the Chairmanship of Secretary, Tourism, for monitoring the progress of the
various agencies for creation of additional hotel accommodation in NCT of
Delhi. These agencies include the State Governments of Uttar Pradesh & Haryana, the Ministries of Railways & Civil Aviation,
the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), Delhi Airport International
Limited (DIAL) etc. Regular meetings are
held to review the progress. The last
meeting was held on January 27, 2010 In addition, meetings to review and
monitor the arrangements for the CWG-2010 are also being conducted
regularly by the Committee of Secretaries(CoS), Group
of Ministers (GoM), the Lt. Governor, Delhi, the Chief Minister of Delhi & the Minister of State (Sports).
To encourage the growth of new
hotels, on the request of the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Finance has
given a five year tax holiday under Section 80-ID to 2, 3 and 4-star category
hotels and convention centers which will be functional between April 1, 2007 to
July 31, 2010 in National Capital Territory Region of Delhi and the Districts
of Faridabad, Gurgaon, Gautam Budh Nagar
(NOIDA) and Ghaziabad.
The Delhi Development Authority
(DDA)/Ministry of Urban Development had announced the increase in Floor Area
Ratio (FAR) from 150 to 225 for hotels in Delhi excluding the hotels falling in the
Lutyens Bungalow Zone etc. To
provide additional rooms in existing and new hotels. Further, the Ministry of Tourism has advised
all existing hotels to upgrade the hotels and be ready for the Games.
Due to the efforts of the Ministry
of Tourism, RBI has already de-linked credit for hotel projects from Commercial
Real Estate (CRE) thereby enabling hotel projects to avail credit at relaxed norms and
reduced interest rates. The External Commercial Borrowings (ECB) norms have
been relaxed by the Finance Ministry to solve the problem of liquidity being
faced by the hotel industry due to economic slowdown.
Additional Accommodation for the Games
For the purpose of augmentation of
budget accommodation during the Games, a proposal is under consideration to use
housing flats of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA). The DDA would construct these flats with
richer specifications under various categories which are located at Vasant Kunj and Jasola. The India
Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) would upgrade & furnish these flats
and operate such units during the Games.
A
substantial number of rooms of the Guest houses under the budget category would
also be available in the National Capital Territory of Delhi for the Games. The
Ministry of Tourism has got a survey done of the licenced
Guest Houses along with Municipal Corporation of Delhi and Delhi Police (Licensing)
through the Institute of Hotel Management, Pusa, New Delhi in order to compile a data base of
these units and to ascertain their standards of services and facilities. In order to be ready for the Games, the
Tourism Ministry has initiated the training of the owners/management &
staff of these identified guest houses to upgrade their standards and soft
skills under the Scheme of Capacity Building of Service Providers (CBSP)
through the IHM, Pusa, and New Delhi.
The
Ministry of Tourism has launched the “Incredible India Bed and Breakfast/Home
Stay Scheme” all over the country.
Around 3,000 “Incredible India Bed and Breakfast/ Homestay”
units are estimated to be ready and available for the Games. This scheme would
provide the guest a unique and authentic Indian home stay experience. With a view to encourage the growth of such
establishments and also to smoothen the procedure of
approvals, the Ministry of Tourism has recently reviewed the scheme and has
simplified the guidelines by amending certain norms.
Hotel Ashok, Samrat & Janpath under the ITDC have been declared as the official
hotels for the games. While the Hotel Ashok and Hotel Samrat would be
the Games Family Hotel, Hotel Janpath would be for
the press and media. These hotels have undertaken a major
renovation work to prepare them for the event.
Training Scheme
‘Earn While You Learn’ a short
training scheme with the objective to sensitize youth, specific to tourism
service has been introduced by the Ministry of Tourism. Youth trained under this scheme will also be
utilized for the CWG 2010. The programme is a short term training programme
of 21 days to encourage youth to work as student volunteers in tourism
industry. The CWG-2010 would require an estimated
15,000 – 20,000 pool of trained and experienced volunteers. Volunteer Programme
is being managed by the Organizing Committee, CWG-2010 along with different agencies
and the Tourism Ministry has proposed to the Organizing Committee that training
of some volunteers may be conducted under the ongoing scheme of the Ministry -
Capacity Building For Service Providers. The Ministry, also
proposes to utilize the students of Institute of Hotel Management, Pusa to augment the man power requirements during the
Games. (PIB Features)
OVERALL ANTICIPATED
AVAILIBILITY OF ROOM FOR CWG-2010
|
Definite rooms
(New Hotel Projects)
|
10,540
|
Rooms from DDA, Haryana, Gr. NOIDA, GDA etc
|
|
Likely Rooms
(New Hotel Projects)
|
624
|
50% of 1,248 Likely rooms from
DDA, Haryana, Gr. NOIDA, DMRC etc
|
|
Guest Houses (Licensed)
|
11,912
|
Estimated rooms in Guest Houses
as per review / grading of IHM, Pusa
|
|
Bed & Breakfast Establishments
|
3,000
|
Total of 1,669 rooms presently available in Delhi NCR ( Delhi-993;
Gurgaon-362;Faridabad-04; NOIDA/GreaterNOIDA-299;Gaziabad-11)
|
|
Housing Units of DDA Rooms
|
5,500
|
3,179 LIG, MIG & HIG DDA Flats at Vasant Kunj and Jasola
|
|
Star category hotel rooms presently available in Delhi NCR
|
10,161
|
|
|
Grand Total
|
41,737
|
|
*Dy. Director (M&C),
Press Information Bureau, New Delhi
RTS/VN
SS-61/SF-61/18.03.2010