Historic building to be demolished for new hotel

Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post, Bogor

The city of Bogor looks likely to lose an old building with historical value after a joint venture between a local company and an international hotel chain decided on Tuesday to demolish the office of state-owned Radio Republic Indonesia (RRI) and replace it with a hotel.

Yahya Muhammad, president commissioner of PT Mirah Segar, the local company that runs the Mirah hotel adjacent to the radio station building, said the demolition of the RRI building on Jl. Pangrango would make way for the construction of a hotel that would be jointly operated by the Holiday Inn international chain.

"The construction of the 14-floor, 182-room hotel will start after the Idul Fitri holiday, most probably in December. It will sit on 7,000 square meters of land," he said.

The construction is expected to cost Rp 105 billion (US$12.36 million), and when completed the hotel will be the tallest building in the city.

The European-style building has been the office of the state- owned radio station since 1965.

Previously, it was the official residence of Yusuf Muda Dalam, the last central bank governor and minister of finance under founding president Sukarno.

Yahya said his company was looking for a new location for the radio station as part of the compensation for the building.

"We are currently negotiating with officials from the RRI central office in Jakarta about moving the radio station to a new location. We think it will be better for RRI because it will have a new building of its own," he said.

He promised that the move to a new office would not disrupt RRI's broadcasts.

The joint venture had planned to build the new hotel on the site where the Mirah hotel now stands. However, given the size of the new construction, it was decided to acquire the adjacent RRI building.

Yahya said he hoped the presence of an international-class hotel would attract more foreign tourists to Bogor, which is home to the Bogor Palace and the Bogor Botanical Gardens.

"About 35 percent of tourists at the Mirah hotel are from the Netherlands, Germany and Australia," he said.

Paul Logan, a representative of the Intercontinental Hotel Group, said the Holiday Inn in Bogor would be the 1,750th hotel under the group's management.

Earlier last month, an official from the National Library said the state was in danger of losing a historic house that belonged to president Sukarno.

The house, located on Jl. A. Yani in Bogor, was reportedly put up for sale by the family of the late Hartini -- the third wife of Sukarno.

The official at the National Library said there was nothing the government could because the house was not a protected national heritage site.