NDMC likely to put off Taj Mansingh auction; bidders’ issues unresolved

TIL Desk/Business/New Delhi/ The much-awaited bidding of the capital’s iconic Taj Mansingh hotel is set to be delayed further. The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), given a nod by the Supreme Court last year to auction the luxury hotel, had plans to complete the process by January 30. But, as things stand, it is likely to be delayed by at least a month.

Prospective bidders in the run-up to the auction have raised several questions, to which the NDMC didn’t come up with satisfactory responses and explanations. One of the issues raised before the NDMC is regarding a condition that restricts the winner from making any structural change or damage to the property. This clause, it is learnt, may make securing various fire and safety approvals tricky for a new operator. These approvals are outside the purview of the NDMC.

Interested players have also raised the issue of restrictive nature of the bid criteria which insist that the bidder must have a five-star hotel brand as well as at least five hundred rooms across three properties. That has been restricting some of the leading global hotel brands present in the country and asset firms from bidding in the Taj auction.