Tycoon to rebuild Hotel Mahkota

Tycoon to rebuild Hotel Mahkota

DILI (AP): A tycoon who dominates Macau's casino industry will rebuild East Timor's largest hotel that was burned and wrecked by anti-independence militiamen during last year's mayhem on the half-island territory, UN officials said on Friday.

UN spokesperson Barbara Reis said Chinese billionaire Stanley Ho has been awarded a 12-month lease to repair and run the hotel in Dili's center.

The Hotel Mahkota had been operated by an Indonesian state- owned tourism company before East Timor broke away from Indonesian rule after a UN independence ballot last August.

During the lead-up to the vote, the hotel had been home to dozens of international and Indonesian journalists covering the political changes in East Timor.

However, reporters and news crews were forced to flee after the building was attacked several times by gun-toting militia gangs.

Following the ballot, the hotel, along with most other buildings in Dili and other parts of East Timor, were looted and burned by the militias.

Order was restored when an Australian-led international peacekeeping force landed in the territory in September.

Like Macau, East Timor is a former Portuguese colony. After four centuries of colonial rule, the Portuguese left the half- island territory in 1975. Macau reverted from Portuguese to Chinese administration in December.

There is an acute shortage of accommodation in Dili due to an influx of hundreds of UN officials and other international aid workers.

Due to the shortage, several people have little choice but to pay about $200 a night for a room in a floating hotel, moored off Dili's foreshore.