A LEADING property developer, the Eden Group Company, is planning to invest about US$8 million on hotel projects at Bagan and Ngapali Beach.

“These areas have strong tourist potential, so they are good places to build hotels,” said U Chit Khine, the managing director of the company.

The hotel at Bagan will have 200 rooms and be built on a 37 acre site near the Thiripyitsaya Sakura Hotel.

The hotel will feature traditionally designed bungalow-style rooms, he said.

“We will have four types of rooms: superior, deluxe, junior suites and suites. A two-storey building at the middle of the hotel grounds will be available for conventions or seminars,” he said.

The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2005 at a cost of $6 million, he said.

Eden is also developing a $2 million hotel on a 6.6 acre site at Ngapali Beach.

“The 118-room hotel will be built in two phases, the first focusing on the construction of bungalow-type rooms and the second on a two-storey central building,” said U Chit Khine. He said the company was yet to choose names for the hotels but they would reflect the regions in which they are located.

“In Bagan, the name should have cultural significance, and in Ngapali it should have recreational connotations,” he said.

Eden also owns the Aye Thar Yar Golf Resort in Taunggyi, which opened in December 2000.

The hotel has great potential, U Chit Khine said.

“The occupancy rate at the resort is about 25 per cent throughout the year, which doesn’t cover expenses, but developing a client base takes time and care, like growing a plant,” he said.