ITC Hotels gets 5-acre plot for Rs 127.5cr

The ITC Hotels on Monday emerged as the successful bidder for a 5-acre plot at Rayadurg near Hitec City, which has been auctioned by the state-owned Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation(APIIC).

The company quoted Rs 25.50 crore per acre, the highest- ever value generated from land auction by any state government agency in Hyderabad so far.

Le Meridian, another hotel industry player, which came close with Rs 25.25 crore offer, stood second in the bidding that was conducted at the APIIC. The plot is meant for constructing a star hotel.

Similarly, real estate major DLF won the 25 acre plot in today's bidding by quoting Rs 18.11 crore per acre. Mantri Developers was the second highest bidder for this plot quoting Rs 18.10 crore per acre.

In a recent auction, Bangalore-based Salarpuria won a 30-acre land by quoting Rs 15 crore acre on which it wants to build a commercial and IT centre.

Though the APIIC put up another 100 acre plot in the same area for auction, the companies have not responded citing reservations about the bid conditions, according to BP Acharya, vice-chairman and managing director of APIIC. The corporation has lined up a total extent of 440 acres in Rayadurg and nearby areas for sale through auction. Acharya said the next round of bidding would be taken up some time later.

The Andhra Pradesh government has mandated three agencies "" APIIC, Hyderabad Urban Development Authority and Andhra Pradesh Housing Board "" to sell the lands in their possession partly for the sake of raising resources to the government exchequer.

Bound by the State Fiscal Responsibility Act, which puts restrictions on government borrowings, the state government has budgeted to raise almost Rs 7,000 crore to supplement the state revenues during the current financial year.