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.