The Leela wins contract to manage Mahatma Mandir

THE LEELA PALACES HOTELS AND RESORTS, commonly known as e Leela, has won the competitive bid to manage the 34-acre Mahatma Mandir Convention and Exhibition Centre in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

Mahatma Mandir is one of the largest convention centres in the country – an “environmentally-responsible complex” that can hold a total of 15,000 people. It includes a convention hall with a capacity for 6,000 people, as well as multiple exhibition centres and seminar rooms.

At a distance of 400 metres from Mahatma Mandir, above the city’s railway station, the homegrown luxury hotel brand is building e Leela Gandhinagar that is expected to open in January 2019. Both buildings are a 25-minute drive from Ahmedabad international airport.

e contract for the government’s project to build a 5-star hotel above Gandhinagar railway station was signed by e Leela, Gandhinagar Railway and Urban Development Corporation (GARUD), a special purpose vehicle formed by the Government of Gujarat with the Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation Ltd (IRSDC).

Commenting on the development, Vivek Nair, chairman and managing director at e Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts said:

“e addition of Mahatma Mandir and e Leela Gandhinagar to our MICE portfolio reinforces our plans to expand further into the international conferences and events space, and underscores our asset light growth strategy. e projects combine grand space with global standards of service and cater to the growing demand for world-class venues. Together with the Government of Gujarat, our endeavour is to help transform Gandhinagar into the convention capital of India.”

On completion, e Leela Gandhinagar will be the rst luxury hotel in the country to be built over a railway station, 25 metres above ground. Its three wings with ten oors and two eight-storey wings will hold 300 rooms and suites, two restaurants, a lounge and boardroom, and 800 sqm of meetings, conventions and event space.

R.K Beniwal (IAS), MD of Gandhinagar Railway and Urban Development Corporation said: “We are very con dent that

e Leela Gandhinagar and Mahatma Mandir Convention and Exhibition Centre will be ably managed for a wider global distribution and accentuated positioning in the international and domestic MICE market.”

With e Leela Gandhinagar, the hospitality group now has ten properties across India. Upcoming projects include a resort in Jaipur, a palace hotel in Agra where every room will face the Taj Mahal, and business hotels in Bengaluru and Hyderabad. theleela.com