As part of its plan to develop tourism-related infrastructure, the state government has decided to put 20 of its properties up for sale, which is expected to fetch nearly Rs 50 crore. The decision was taken at a meeting on Wednesday as per a report in The Indian Express by Kapil Dave.

Vipul Mittra, Principal Secretary (Tourism), said that the government has decided to form a high-level committee, to be headed by the additional chief secretary of Tourism department, to sell off its tourism properties at various places. 

“The department owns 28 properties, and we are planning to sell off 20 of them. Tenders for sale of these properties are expected to be issued very soon. The final value assessment is yet to be done, but we expect it to be around Rs 50 crore. Other properties have some issues like co-ownership etc., so we are not focusing on those buildings,” he said. 

“The revenue generated from the sale of these properties will be used in tourism infrastructure plans. We plan to shift our focus from management of these properties to overall infrastructure development of important tourist destinations, which can help in faster growth of tourism industry in the state,” he added. 

Most of these properties are in prime locations, like Palace Beach Resort and Veraval Tourist Bungalow (both in Junagadh), Hotel Sumenu at Palitana (Bhavnagar), Tourist Complete Valthan (Surat), Dwarka Guest House (Jamnagar) and Vafeteria (Gandhinagar). 

The parcels of land are located in Radhanpur (Patan), Jagana (Banaskantha), Bamanbor and Sayala (Surendranagar), Vallabhipur and Katpar (Bhavnagar), Shamkhiyani (Kutch) and Hansalpur Viramgam and Sola (Ahmedabad). 

Earlier in 2006-07, the government had sold such properties of the Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Limited (TCGL) at various places.