West Bengal plans SPV to develop tourism

The West Bengal tourism department is planning to float a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to facilitate the development of infrastructure for the tourism sector in the state, according to Bijoy Chatterjee, principal secretary of the department of tourism of West Bengal, at the 43rd FHRAI (Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India) annual convention on Friday.

"The company will act as a catalyst to facilitate private funding for developing infrastructure required in the tourism sector. It will have a small equity base, and will float tenders inviting expression of interest for developing projects like tea, rural, river and coastal tourism," he said.

"We are in the initial stages of discussion to float the company. We hope to finalise the plan by the end of this fiscal," he added.

The government is also planning to develop existing circuits like the Eastern Dooars region, Bakkhali and Santiniketan, as well as bring up newer circuits like Murshidabad and Howrah, under the Centre's circuit tourism scheme, he said.

For the fiscal 2006-07, projects worth Rs 60 crore have already been sanctioned by the state and Central government for the tourism sector in West Bengal, he said.

Earlier in the day, West Bengal chief minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya said the hospitality sector in the state had been neglected for long.

He admitted that the taxation policy in the state, especially the luxury tax levy, was creating problems for the hospitality sector.

Calling the state finance minister Asim Dasgupta a very "orthodox finance minister", Bhattacharya said that the state's finance department was not willing to give tax breaks to the hospitality sector in the state, as that would mean revenue loss.

"I understand, luxury tax is creating problems for you but our finance minister is orthodox. He is telling me he cannot mobilise funds if we give tax concession to hotels," he said.

The state needed to take a balanced view regarding the hospitality sector, as it had a good potential to create jobs, he said.

The chief minster claimed international hotel chains were keen on setting up hotels in the state. "A Singapore-based company plans to build a chain of seven hotels in West Bengal," he said.

Apart from these initiatives, the Chief Minister also stressed on the need to set up smaller three-star business hotels across the state, in places like Siliguri, Asansol and Durgapur.