Unitech will build hotels

Unitech, the New Delhi-based construction company, plans to invest Rs 100 crore to build three hotels in the country. This investment, the company's management hopes, will help the company double its turnover to Rs 500 crore. The company had a turnover of Rs 275 crore in the financial year ended 31 March 1999.

Unitech already has a presence in the hospitality industry. It owns the property of Delhi Radisson through A B Hotels Ltd, in which the construction company holds a 55 per cent stake. Two of the new hotels will be built in Ahmedabad and Kathmandu, at a cost of Rs35 crore each. The details of the third property is yet to be finalised.

The company is also planning to create a chain of restaurants in the next three years. There is also a hotel management institute on its drawing board. The Unitech management is talking to universities overseas to offer a degree for the planned three-year course, which will be conducted at premises in Gurgaon. The cost of this institute is projected at Rs 1.5 crore.

Unitech, which has a tie-up with Carlson group of the US for operations in the hospitality industry, also has a presence in the ready-mix concrete (for which it has a collaboration with two Singapore-based construction companies), and design, manufacture and commissioning of electrical transmission lines.