Intan seals deal to operate hotels in Irian Jaya province

JAKARTA (JP): The Intan International Hotels and Resorts hotel management firm has signed a joint-venture agreement with the Irian Jaya administration to refurbish and operate hotels in the province.

Intan's vice president for marketing and development, Francis Leslie Erlangga, told The Jakarta Post yesterday the company will first refurbish and manage the Numbai Hotel in Jayapura, the capital of Irian Jaya.

"The hotel, previously wholly-owned by the local administration, is now 52-percent owned by Intan. The joint- venture agreement was signed by Intan's chairman Umar Santosa and Irian Jaya Governor Jacob Pattipi in Jakarta on Saturday," he said, adding that the US$8 million hotel will be called the Intan Numbai.

He said the 124-room hotel, located on a 2.2-hectare plot, is scheduled for soft opening in November next year.

"Later, we will also refurbish and manage other hotels in Wamena and Merauke," he said.

Intan currently owns and manages seven hotels in Indonesia: the Bali Opal Inn, the Intan Bali Village and the Bali Intan Cottages in Bali; Lombok Intan Laguna in West Nusa Tenggara; Hotel Intan and Hotel Mutiara in Yogyakarta; and Hotel Mutiara in Cilacap, Central Java.

The company has four different brand names; using "Intan" for five-star and four-star hotels, "Mutiara" for three-star and two- star hotels, "Opal" for one-star hotels and "Safir" for non-star- rated hotels.

According to Erlangga, Intan will also manage the Mascot Safir Senggigi in Lombok and Intan Patra in Jakarta, as well as a hotel in Yangon, Myanmar, within the next couple of years.

Mascot Safir is scheduled to open in 1996 and Intan Patra is scheduled to open in 1997.

"We plan to participate in the ownership of the planned four- star hotel in Myanmar. Negotiations with a local company in that country are still underway. We expect to see the hotel opening in 1997," he said. (icn)