Tata Sons is looking to expand its Taj Group of Hotels portfolio in Punjab in a big way, for which it has identified 10-15 projects. Tata Sons chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran shared his plans during his meeting with the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Tuesday.
Earlier, Tata Sons Limited had shown keen interest in Punjab Government’s efforts in dealing with the pollution and destruction of its water bodies, and had made a representation for the ‘Rejuvenation of the Chhoti Nadi and Badi Nadi River Bodies in Patiala’ to the Patiala Urban Planning and Development Authority (PDA).
For the same, the Chief Minister has asked the company to come out with a detailed project report (DPR) for its proposed project, besides handing over to the company chairman a formal letter of mandate.
The preliminary cost of the project is estimated at Rs 550 crores, with a maintenance period of 10 years.
The representation regarding rejuvenation of rivers in Patiala was taken to the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB) for further evaluation under the PIDB Unsolicited Proposal Bye Laws-2008, and after preliminary examination, a decision was taken to issue the mandate to Tata Projects Limited for bringing a detailed project report at their expense for further scrutiny and international bidding as per the Swiss Challenge method.
The project envisages the rejuvenation of the Chotti Nadi, Badi Nadi and other water bodies of the Patiala city. It seeks to intercept all raw sewage or effluent entering the river, divert it to treatment plants, and release treated effluent to create a clean, pollution free, safe and perennial water body.
In this project, rubber dams are also proposed to be constructed at strategic locations to create a separate fresh water body which will ensure better flood management. The Riverfront is proposed to be developed with theme parks, walking avenues, sitting or functional spaces along the river, tree plantation landscape on both the banks of the water bodies.
Besides, the Company chairman agreed to explore the Chief Minister’s suggestion of setting up an auto plant in the state, and also evinced interest in expanding into food processing, retail and the IT sector, which Capt Amarinder said offered immense potential for growth in view of the various incentives given by his government and the ease of business promoted by the new industrial policy.
Chandrasekaran said that with retail and service sectors not requiring much gestation period, these were an attractive proposition for expansion in the state.
The Chief Minister pointed out that Punjab not only had surplus power to support industry but also boasted of no labour problems of any kind.
The possibility of starting Air Asia operations from Amritsar was also discussed, with Chandrasekaran promising to look at connecting Amritsar through domestic flights of the company’s aviation wing.