The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has decided to conduct a fresh auction for luxury hotel Taj Mansingh on July 18. The first attempt at bringing the iconic hotel in the national capital under the hammer had remained unsuccessful.
An auction was to be held this month, but was cancelled. The sole qualified bid for the hotel had come from the existing operator — Tata Group’s Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL). The only other bid was by ITC, and it had not been accepted on technical grounds.
The NDMC issued the annulment notice for the e-auction last week.
“Less than three bids were received for the property and as per norms three technically qualified bidders are required for the e-auction process to the second stage. Hence, the auction process stands annulled,” the notice read.
In 1978, the Tata Group had been given Taj Mansingh on a 33-year lease, which ended in 2011. The company had since got nine temporary extensions. The civic body, fighting a legal battle with IHCL, could not auction the property all this while.
The hotel was open for site visits by prospective bidders between June 16 and 22. The NDMC will conduct a pre-bid meeting on 25 June, and the last date for submission of bids is July 9.
The latest re-tendering process retains the criterion of three minimum qualified bids. The winning bid will go for a lease of 33 years again, and the bid security amount of Rs 250 million has been kept unchanged.
The Tata Group acquired three-star hotel “The Connaught” in an auction last week. The NDMC also auctioned Hotel Asian International, and awarded it to the successful bidder, Bloom Hospitality Group.
The NDMC had sealed the two hotels in 2015 due to non-payment of licence fees. The civic body decided last year to auction Hotel Connaught and re-auction Hotel Asian International.
Asian International was e-auctioned in January 2017, fetching Rs 45.5 lakh per month as licence fee, the highest-ever. The bidder, however, refused to claim the property later, which led to its re-auction.
(With agency inputs)