Jammu: Twelve assets including the Pahalgam Club, Ashoka Hotel at Jammu and huts of JK tourism department in Patnitop have been identified for outsourcing and the entire exercise will be completed by the middle of next year, Daily Excelsior reported.
The report said more such properties will be identified in Phase II.
This information has been provided by the Tourism Department to the Joint Secretary in the India Ministry of Home Affairs Ashutosh Agnihotri, who chaired a meeting at Golf Course Jammu yesterday to review the progress on the decision about the outsourcing of tourism assets in the Union Territory.
The meeting was attended by the Director of Tourism Jammu, the Director of Tourism Kashmir, Managing Director of Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation and Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of Pahalgam Development Authority, Gulmarg Development Authority and Patnitop Development Authority.
Quoting official sources, the report said that the Joint Secretary was apprised that a total of 12 assets—9 in Jammu and 3 in Kashmir have been identified for outsourcing as per the decision taken by the JK administration last year.
The three assets in Kashmir are Pahalgam Club being run by JKTDC, a hotel at Gulmarg being managed by Gulmarg Development Authority and Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC). Similarly, among the 9 assets in Jammu are huts of JKTDC at Patnitop and Kud and Ashoka Hotel at Jammu.
The Joint Secretary was further informed that as suggested by the Transaction Advisor a decision has been taken to invite single tender for all these 12 assets.
However, the Joint Secretary conveyed a different opinion to the officers and accordingly sought report of the Transaction Advisor, the report said quoting the source further.
“The Joint Secretary is of the opinion that there may be little response to single tender for all these assets and floating different tenders would be most viable option. However, exact decision will be taken after examination of Transaction Advisor report,” it said.
The officers of the Tourism Department conveyed to the Joint Secretary MHA that JK administration has planned to complete the exercise of outsourcing of these assets by middle of next year and thereafter steps will be initiated to identify more such properties.
The report quoting sources said majority of the assets of the Tourism Department and Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation are not yielding the desired revenue because of varied reasons.
“The present revenue being generated by the assets of these organizations is not sufficient even for their routine maintenance and complaints about poor facilities at these assets generally pour in from the tourists whenever they avail these facilities,” they said.
“Moreover, neither the Tourism Department nor the Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation have sufficient manpower for proper upkeep and maintenance of their assets as a result of which their condition is deteriorating with every passing year,” the report said quoting the sources further.
