Bogor administration stops hotel construction

Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post, Bogor

The Bogor municipal administration has stopped the construction of the Holiday Inn hotel on a plot of land on Jl. Pangrango, Bogor, where the office of state-owned Radio Republic Indonesia (RRI) stands, following a letter from the Ministry of Tourism and Culture on the plan to demolish the building and replace it with a hotel.

The letter, signed by the ministry's deputy of history and archeology, Anhar Gonggong, said that the ministry had asked for information on the plan to build the hotel because the RRI building should be considered a heritage site as it was located in the old part of Bogor.

The municipal government immediately sent a letter to PT Mirah Segar's director Yasir Yahya. In the letter signed by Bogor City Secretary Deddy S. Hamdan, the municipality demanded that Yasir immediately contact Anhar to clarify the matter.

PT Mirah Segar chief commissioner and owner of Mirah Hotel, Yahya Muhamad, told the press on Tuesday that he had purchased the land from Bank Indonesia. The central bank is the official owner of the 7,000-square-meter site because the colonial-style building was formerly the official residence of Yusuf Muda Dalam, the last central bank governor and minister of finance under founding president Sukarno.

The building has been used by RRI since 1965.

The company plans to move the radio station to a new location.

"The ministry's letter is a concern because it has made the Bogor mayor delay the construction of the Holiday Inn Hotel," Yahya said. "The mayor should have answered the letter instead of issuing a letter to halt construction. If it is indeed a historical building, it shouldn't have been sold. That's what confuses me."

The new hotel will be a 14-story building, the tallest in Bogor city when it is completed, with 182 rooms. The construction of the hotel will cost Rp 105 billion (US$12.36 million).