ALAMINOS CITY—A five-star hotel with more than 100 rooms is set to rise here, the home of the famous Hundred Islands, to serve local and foreign tourists.

To be named The Oriental Hundred Islands located at the old wharf in Barangay Lucap here, the hotel had its groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday and construction is expected to be finished in less than a year.

“We really need first class facilities in Pangasinan and especially in Alaminos,” Mayor Arthur Celeste said.

He said he is happiest as the memorable and historic groundbreaking ceremony was held 11 days before he bows out from office.

He said his predecessor had planned the building to house eight big rooms, a dormitory-type to house tourists. The project was then funded by the city through a bank loan worth P35-million.

But after an inspection, Celeste said another P35-million would be needed to finish the structure. Even if construction of the building would be finished, he said the city government would not be capable of managing it “as the city government is not a hotelier”.

 To date, the local government still has P17-million loan balance, he said.

Celeste said he has decided not to pursue the project “because if the city government would manage it, it would just go bankrupt”.

The mayor said three groups manifested interests to look into the project: Taiwanese investors, a Filipino businessman, and a group led by hotel magnate Wilbert Lee who owns The Oriental Hotels across the country.

 He said the project will become another landmark for the province.

Celeste said the first district of Pangasinan, including Alaminos City, relies on its tourism potentials as it is gifted with white sand and coastal areas.

For his part, Department of Tourism Region 1 Director Martin Valera said the project will be the biggest tourism undertaking in terms of project cost and investment.

“The development of this facility will also attract other investment initiatives and new business ventures,” he added.

 He added that it will also level up the service standards of the community and will bring in additional income, spur economic development within the western Pangasinan area.

About P500-million is expected to be infused to fund the project.

Rebecca Marie Abigail Lee, president of LKY Resorts and Hotels, Inc. behind The Oriental Hotels, said for almost two years, Celeste encouraged them to put up a hotel here and asked only that the lighthouse and the place where a statues of Limahong and Princess Urduja are to be preserved.

She vowed majority of their staff, if not all, will be from the local and they will also partner with the boatmen to ferry their guests to the Hundred Islands.

Lee said her father has been fond of hotels and always chooses to stay in the best ones he can find, whether local or international, because he considers these as experience.

LKY has six hotels and 12 more in the pipeline.

“For every hotel that we build, we see to it that there’s something of the old structure there, either we keep the whole thing, or we take out some part of it whether due to structural reasons or whatever, because it’s our way to pay homage and respect to what brought us here,” she said. (PhilStar Wire Service)

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