Ahmedabad: Chief Minister Vijay Rupani today laid the foundation stone of ITC-Narmada, first of its kind super premium category of hotel in Gujarat to be built in 6 lakh square feet area in plush Judges bungalow road locality of Ahmedabad with an estimated cost of Rs 600 crore.

The 300 room/suites hotel will be ninth of the group in Gujarat.

ITC operates 8 hotels in Gujarat under Welcome Hotels, Welcome Heritage and Fortune Landmark brands. The new hotel will be the largest and most premium in Gujarat. Another hotel under Fortune brand will be opened in Gujarat which make the total number of group hotels at 10. The hotel will be constructed over 600,000 square ft area. It will have 11,000 square ft banquet facility, Kayakalp and four signature restaurants. The facade will include Sun temple of Modhera. Tree of life and other Gujarat cultural aspects will be featured in this hotel. The hotel will be a green building with highest rating which is lead platinum.

On the occasion Rupani said that naming the hotel on river Narmada, which was the lifeline and the very basis of the prosperity and development of the state, was a very good thing and would spread it to different corners of the word by making it familiar to tourists from various countries coming and staying in it.

He also said that the laying of foundation stone of this 600 crore hotel just before the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2017 was a reply of sorts to those who were opposing the biennial event saying that it has not added to jobs and the MoU’s were useless. ‘70% of the MoUs to the tunes of lakhs of crores are being executed. It can’t be implemented overnight and takes time. Gujarat has remained among top job creator states for last 15 years. A large number of people from who were registered with the employment exchange in the state was of those who were not really unemployed but wanted government job,’ he said.

He expressed happiness at the fact that ITC-Narmada hotel will be based on the theme of culture and heritage of Gujarat.

CEO of the group Sanjiv Puri on the occasion said that it would be overall 9 th hotel of the group in Gujarat. Another hotel by the group in form of a Fortune hotel would come up in Vadodara as the 10 th one in the state.

He said that a facade of the hotel will be made like the famous sun temple of Modhera. The culture and heritage of Gujarat will also be reflected by the hotel.

‘The services and facilities have been conceptualized to cater to the diverse needs of discerning travelers to the city. Rooms include luxury suits and a grand presidential suite, designed to cater to heads of state visits. There will be 11000 sq ft of meeting and convention spaces in it along with four special restaurants and globally acknowledged holistic wellness offering brand ‘Kaya Kalp,’ he said.

Puri said that apart from hotels, the ITC group was also doing well in Agri business in the state. Through its 6 partner manufacturing units it supports the livelihoods of over 10 lakh people in the state. It was also in to the production of banana, mango and early generation seed potato.

DeshGujarat