3-star hotel to open in Asia City by 2010

KOTA KINABALU: The shortage of hotel rooms in the city is expected to be gradually addressed when the proposed three-star hotel cum multi-storey car park complex under the phase IIB of the Asia City Urban Development project is ready in 2010.

A.C. Property Development Sdn Bhd (ACPD) Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer Dr Ting Ing Chiew said that once completed, the hotel will have 240 rooms inclusive of seven luxurious suites of various sizes.

The hotel will also have a rooftop swimming pool, one of the highest in the city, with a spectacular view of the city and Mt Kinabalu.

Other facilities in the hotel include a coffee house, bar lounge, function rooms, business centre, gym, spa, 600 indoor parking bays and two levels of ballrooms that can accommodate 1,010 guests at any one time, he said.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference at his office yesterday, Dr Ting announced the project’s ground breaking ceremony on July 19 by Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun. The event will start at 10am at the project site situated at Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman next to Chung Hwa Primary School in the city.

The hotel is located on a prime tract of land, covering some 1.478 acres, with a total built-up area of over half a million square feet, he said, adding that pilling work for the project has started.

Once the hotel is completed, he said it would provide jobs to over 200 people. At the moment they are considering getting the management team from leading hotels like Holiday Inn, Swiss Garden, Park Royal and others to run the hotel.

He said the management’s decision to build the hotel was in direct response to former Tourism Minister Tan Sri Chong Kah Kiat’s statement in December 2005 that Sabah would need 8,000 more hotel rooms over the next five years in order to keep up with the anticipated rise in tourist arrivals, once the expansion plan of Kota Kinabalu International Airport is completed.

Through the assistance and recommendation of Kah Kiat, he said the management secured a tourism infrastructure loan of RM50 million from Bank Pembangunan Malaysia Berhad.

The total estimated cost of the hotel is RM120 million and the project is undertaken by A.C. Bumi Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary company of ACPD Sdn Bhd, which entered a joint venture agreement with Sabah Economic Development Corporation (SEDCO) to develop the property.