Jumeirah, LuLu open to construction options in Uttarakhand

Tribune News Service

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, October 20

LuLu Group International, an Emirati-based multinational conglomerate that operates a chain of hypermarkets and retail companies, and Jumeirah group of hotels have expressed interest in exploring construction options in Uttarakhand.

Teams from the two firms, among other UAE-based industry houses, will attend the Uttarakhand Global Investor Summit in Dehradunon December 8 and 9.

CM Pushkar Singh Dhami on Thursday said the Uttarakhand government, in a first, had set up an NRI investor cell to aid investments by non resident Indians belonging to the state. Dubai alone has 25,000 NRIs with roots in the state.

The CM, who returned from Dubai today after successful meetings with industry groups about the Investor Summit in Dehradun, said teams from Lulu and Jumeirah group would explore sites in the state when they visit.

While the state has proposed three sites to the Lulu group for their hypermarket -- Dehradun, Rishikesh and Haridwar -- Jumeirah has been asked to explore the land around Tehri lake.

Lulu has so far built hypermarkets in India in Kochi, Bengaluru, Lucknow, Coimbatore, Trivandrum and Hyderabad.

It is learnt that the Jumeirah group is looking at building a hotel in Uttarakhand which could fetch them USD 1,000 dollar a day, which state government officials said "was very ambitious" and preliminary expectations may have to be tempered before these can go big.

In Dubai, Dhami signed MoUs worth Rs 12,000 cr with firms.

The state has so far signed MOUs worth Rs 55,000 crore with interested investors from London, Birmingham, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi.

"Amid current global headwinds, India is being seen as a safe investment destination," said Dhami, adding that the state had created a land bank of 6,000 acre and was following a policy of "balancing ecology and economy" to boost investments.

Dhami said investors were mainly interested in tourism, pharma, agri processing, real estate and health and wellness.

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