Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Mon, 4 Jan 1993 19:39:26 PST
From:         Coban Tun <tun@QUARK.SFSU.EDU>
Subject:      RANGOON'S STRAND HOTEL HOPES TO RELIVE GLORY DAYS

 REUTER SUT JLW JB

RTw  12/21 2129  RANGOON'S STRAND HOTEL HOPES TO RELIVE GLORY DAYS

    By Angus MacSwan
    RANGOON, Dec 22, Reuter - The elegance and romance of bygone days will dawn
again at Rangoon's Strand Hotel, one of the great hotels of the British Empire,
but don't say "colonial" too loudly to the Burmese government.
    A multi-million-dollar project is now under way to restore the hotel, which
in recent decades has become more famous for the size of its rats than the
identity of its guests.
    Difficulties and delays have bedevilled the joint venture between the
military government of Burma (also known as Myanmar) and a consortium of
foreign investors.
    But when it's finished, lobster thermidor will again be served in the
Grand Dining Room and cocktails sipped at a teak bar as the sun sets over the
waterfront, architect David Wordsworth said.
    The Strand was opened in 1901 by the Saki brothers, two Armenians who also
built such other East of Suez landmarks as the Raffles Hotel in Singapore and
the Eastern and Oriental in Penang.
    Noel Coward and Somerset Maugham stayed there in its prime, and although
there is some dispute as to whether Rudyard Kipling ever did, his spirit will
be pervasive.
    "There is a romanticism about the colonial era in Asia," said Tony Child,
managing director of the Myanmar Hotels International joint venture.
    "It goes with the mystique of the Orient. It fires the imagination."
    That may be the case for the well-heeled tourists the hotel hopes to
attract, but it's a delicate issue with the military junta, which still rails
against "imperialists" and "neocolonialists."
    "We do have to be tactful," Wordsworth said.
    But the project, which includes two other hotels, is Burma's largest joint
venture and a prominent part of the government's scheme to drag itself out of
isolation and ruin.
    The shabbiness and inefficiency that marked the Strand under three decades
of "the Burmese way to socialism" mirrors the state of the country as a whole.
    Although internationally criticised for its repressive nature, the junta is
trying to attract foreign tourists and investors.
    It dreams of welcoming 500,000 tourists next year, but Rangoon now has
barely enough decent rooms for a busload.
    The Strand will initially have 32 luxury rooms; an annex to be completed
later will have a further 120. Also in MHI's package are the Inya Lake, a
barrack-like 230-room block built by the Soviet Union in the 1960s, and the
60-room Thamada.
    The project was pioneered by Adrian Zecka, an Indonesian who has made his
name styling luxury hotels for the rich and discerning.
    Foreign partners include Thai and Hong Kong investors, although Jardine
Fleming have reportedly pulled out.
    Work began on the Strand in May 1991, but the opening date has already been
put back several times, with next May the new target.
    This has led to budget overruns, especially because of the expense of
maintaining a staff of expatriate contractors, managers and architects.
    The total cost of the project is expected to reach $36 million, Child
said.
    Burma's bureaucracy has been exasperating.
    "We had to convene meetings just to get a sheet of plywood," one
expatriate complained.
    Many materials have to be imported. Because of the vast difference between
the official and blackmarket exchange rates, MHI negotiated its own rate.
    Burma's hopeless telecommunications system -- outgoing calls have to be
booked hours in advance and are cut off after three minutes -- makes contact
with the outside world an ordeal.
    "Sometimes it feels like the Hotel Stranded," another source said.
    The expatriate said that in the early days he was frequently followed by
state security police.
    The labourers provided by Rangoon's Public Works Department are fine
carpenters, plasterers and bricklayers.
    However, "anything involving modern technology is a struggle," Wordsworth
said.
    But no one doubts it will be finished, giving MHI a head start in a
relatively unexploited country.
    The Strand has been renovated several times. Its last update left the
facade looking like a "tacky art-deco cinema," Wordsworth said.
    The latest facelift will reflect the 1920s and 1930s. But the designers
are anxious to avoid the fate that befell the Raffles, whose recent renovation
left it with about much as atmosphere as a film set.
 REUTER AM ML GD
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