TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: While the Regional Plan 2021 for Goa is yet to be finalized after the ensuing Budget Session, the tourism industry in a pre-budget memorandum to the Goa government submitted Monday, has recommended for increasing the Floor Space Index (FSI) for hotels, claiming that this will help promote tourism and provide boost to employment generation.
The pre-Budget memorandum presented to the government on Monday by President of the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa Francis Braganza recommends grant of additional FSI to the existing and new hotels under construction on TCP area and non CRZ areas for a fixed fees of Rs10000 (proposed) per square meter in cities and Rs 7000 for village panchayat I areas and Rs 5000 for village panchayat II areas.
“This should be allowed also for tourism infrastructure projects,” said Braganza.
According to the tourism stakeholders this will easily generate Rs 20 to 30 crores revenue per month to the state. This should however be subject to strict conditions, opines the TTAG.
Maharashtra and many other states provide for such additional FSIs only to the hotel industry considering that the ROI in the hospitality industry is slow.
The Hotels and Restaurant Association President Gaurish Dhond seconded this proposal saying, “There is a need for increasing the FSI/FAR for hotels considering the fact that there is a demand for hotel accommodation in Goa being a tourist destination.”
Dhond pointed out that presently in cities such as Panjim, hotel projects are permitted 200 FAR/FSI and in beach areas it is .60 or .80 FSI/FAR. He said that increasing FSI/FAR would enable new hotels to construct more rooms and also permit existing hotels to increase their rooms, without violating any rules or laws. Dhond said that the hotel industry is ready to pay the fees as prescribed by the government.
In another interesting recommendation the tourism industry has mulled the re-introduction of house tax in cities and coastal towns with a minimum amount not less than Rs 500 per year which may go upto Rs 5000 per year for luxury apartments /houses.
It suggests that rent back hotels should not be discriminated against as rent backs are residential apartments which are used for four to five months for tourism and the remaining period for residence by the owners. The house tax for rent back apartments should be same as the other residential apartments. It points out that any move to tax the rent back apartments at a higher level, will result in all these rooms going out of the market.
