Riau readies for Koranic contests

PEKANBARU, Riau: The organizers of the Musabaqah Tilawatil Qur'an (MTQ), the national Koranic recital contest, has assigned 33 hotels and hundreds of houses in the city to accommodate the thousands of participants in July.

The organizers have inspected 53 hotels in the city, including non-star rated hotels, for the purpose and selected 33, said Fadlah Sulaiman, head of the accommodation section.

The inspection involved officials of the local health office.

Hundreds of households in the Bukit Raya district, where the contest will be held, have also offered to accept lodgers during the competition, the Antara news agency reported.

A housing developer has also offered 5,000 newly built units for the purpose. (emb)