Joy Roy Choudhury – Kolkata
The Department of Tourism, Government of West Bengal is going to develop a culinary institute across seven acres of land in Barjora, Bankura, with an aim to become a preferred tourism-related investment destination. For the same, the tourism department has invited financial bids from interested parties for the setting up of a culinary institute. The proposed site is 12.5 km from Durgapur railway station, the major rail-head in the region and the Bengal Aerothropolis at Andal is just 36 km from the project site.
According to a senior tourism department official, “The culinary institute will have state-of-the-art facilities and services complying with the finest culinary institutes in the world. The site is to be planned as an institute of hotel management as per AICTE guidelines. The proposed institute is likely to offer diploma courses in Food Technology, Hotel Management & Catering Technology and short term diploma courses in food production. The cost of the project development is estimated to be around Rs 9 crore.”
The tourism department intends to select a private developer for design, construction, financing, operation and maintenance for the proposed site in terms of the specifications and performance standards as set out in the bid document and the concession agreement through a transparent and competitive single stage bidding process. The Preferred Bidder shall form a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for implementation of the project as per the provisions of the agreement. At the proposed institute, the facilities would range from theoretical classrooms, practical teaching labs, culinary arts lab, administrative section along with a top-notch multi-cuisine restaurant with an international standard bakery. International consultancy firm, Knight Frank has been selected as the consultant for the project.
Commenting on the development to Express TravelWorld, the official said, “We had invited financial bids from private players for setting up the proposed institute but we are not satisfied with the response we have received so far for the initial offer, so we are planning to re-invite fresh bids from interested private parties soon.”