Sheraton Bandara ready to support air show '96
JAKARTA (JP): The Sheraton Bandara, a new four-star hotel located near the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, is ready to support the Indonesian Air Show '96, to be held from June 22 to June 30.
"I have received a report saying that the hotel will be ready to operate 125 out of its total 250 rooms for the air show," Director General of Tourism Andi Mappi Sammeng told reporters during an inspection at the hotel site yesterday.
He said that the hotel, developed as a resort by PT Mandara Jasindo Sena, will offer special facilities, something more than transit hotels usually offer.
A total of 115 rooms have already been booked for the show.
In addition to the Sheraton Bandara, air show participants and other guests for the event will stay at 25 other hotels, such as the Sahid Jaya, Hilton, Atlet Century, Ancol Travelodge and Regent hotels.
The Air Show, the second to be organized in the country, will be held in a special terminal of the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. A clean-up operation will start 14 days before the one- week show's commencement and last until its finish to keep street vendors and beggars away from roaming city streets during the event.
The Sheraton Bandara, constructed by the British-based Schal International Ltd., which is also building the Sheraton Media in Central Jakarta, is situated on a 2.5-hectare plot.
Schal's executive responsible for the hotel project, James Osborne, said that the entire hotel -- with a strong Balinese influence -- will be ready on July 15.
The construction of the hotel, worth US$59 million, began in early 1994. The hotel is owned by Mandara Jasindo Sena, which is 48-percent controlled by PT Tatia Investindo, 4 percent by PT Kencana Santosa Makmur, 44 percent by businessman Maxi Gunawan, and 2 percent each by Aminuzal Amin and Indra Kartasasmita.
The company's financial director, Denny Daruri, said that as the owner of the hotel's land, the state-owned airport management firm -- PT Angkasa Pura II -- would have a 27-percent stake in Mandara. "We are still waiting for an agreement from the Ministry of Finance."
The Sheraton Bandara will be the ninth property in Indonesia managed by ITT Sheraton of the United States. Among the hotels currently run by Sheraton are the Sheraton Senggigi in Lombok, Sheraton Timika in Irian Jaya, Sheraton Bandung in West Java and Sheraton Laguna Nusa Dua in Bali.
Sheraton also plans to open other hotels in Yogyakarta, Jakarta, Surakarta of Central Java and Bogor of West Java later this year.
Meanwhile, Mandara's president -- Indra Kartasasmita -- said that his company had gained a 15-year concession from Angkasa Pura II to develop a 15-hectare plot, including the 2.5-hectare site for the Sheraton Bandara, under a build, operate and transfer plan.
"We plan to develop the remaining 12.5 hectares for villas and leisure and educational parks. The project is scheduled to begin next January," he said.
He said that his company has also set its sights on winning another project aimed to develop the airport area as a commercial zone.
"There is a 400-hectare area, partly used for the air show, which will be developed as a commercial and business area. We plan to develop the site up to the coast, so that visitors can go to Pulau Seribu in the Jakarta bay."
He said that it was very important for the capital city's airport to have commercial, leisure and cultural centers in its surrounding areas.
Other international cities like Macau, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur had decided earlier to build such facilities, he said.
"The facilities near the airport are necessary, because the traffic in the city is getting terrible. Transportation from the airport to the center of the city may take more time than flying time from abroad to the airport," said Kartasasmita, who is the brother of the Chairman of the National Development Planning Board, Ginandjar Kartasasmita. (icn)