CHATTOGRAM, Nov 04: Chairman of The Peninsula Chittagong Limited Mahbub Ur Rahman said the company is going to present an exhilarating and exotic place of hospitality and entertainment through constructing a lavish hotel, The Peninsula Airport, Garden at a very attractive location of Patenga in Chattogram.
In an exclusive interview recently with the Financial Express, Mr Rahman said he is going to implement his dream of building up the upscale hotel on the estuary of the Karnaphuli River, besides Chittagong Shah Amanat International Airport.
Around 40 per cent work of the 11-storey hotel building standing on a huge area of 2.19 acres of land taken on long-term lease agreement with two government entities, has already been completed.
The building is being constructed at the cost of Tk 2.08 billion (Tk 208 crore), which is expected to be completed by 2020.
Mr Rahman said the hotel will have the country's largest Infinity Swimming Pool.
He has been the Chairman of The Peninsula Chittagong since 2014. He joined the company in 2004 as Executive Director.
Mr Mahbub Ur Rahman was educated in the United States of America in Information Technology and trained as an Executive MBA from Helsinki School of Economics in Finland.
Mr Rahman is leading changes and creating values with innovative business ideas and technologies in Bangladesh. He is the Founder Chairman of Show Motions Ltd, the first modern multiplex cinema theatre in the country under the STAR Cineplex brand.
Besides cinema exhibition, he has established film production and distribution business within the company and since 1999 he has been leading Gasmin Ltd, one of the largest gas pipeline construction firms, completing many large projects in gas pipeline.
Mr Rahman, also Managing Director of Sayeman Beach Resort Ltd, said prospect of the entertainment and hospitality business in the country is very good. He is attaching emphasis basically on the business centering the Chittagong International Airport.
Considering the distance and advantages of the crew of international flights, the hotel will be the first and only choice of the transit passengers. Flight catering will be an additional advantage for the Peninsula Airport Garden, he said.
He informed that infrastructure development activities worth around Tk 1,000 billion is now going on in the entire Chattogram region. The under-construction tunnel under the Karnaphuli is just minutes' distance from the hotel.
The Chinese Economic Zone under construction, Korean Export Processing Zone and two major fertiliser plants are located just opposite the hotel on the other bank of the river while the country's largest economic zone at Mirsarai, LNG Terminal and Port at Moheshkhali and Bay Terminal at Halishahar are all in the making.
A good number of foreign experts involved with these projects will be staying in a state-of-the-art hotel near the international airport. "I hope our hotel will remain at the peak of choice for the foreign experts and tourists for its advantage of location," he said.
The Peninsula Chittagong Chairman said Peninsula Group has also procured lands for extension of its hospitality business in Khulna. As soon as the Padma Multipurpose Bridge opens to traffic the country's southern region will find construction of a number of 3-Star and 4-Star hotels from the Peninsula Group.
Besides, they are mulling over constructing a different type of 5-Star hotel in Dhaka very soon. The location of the proposed hotel will be either at Uttara or at Purbachal, he said.
"You know that development of Mirsarai Economic Zone has got a pace now and it will be the country's largest foreign direct investment destination. We have planned to build a class hotel there. Although the government has fixed up zones for different sectors, the government is yet to fix up a zone for hotel and motel there," he said, adding that he has planned to construct eco-tourism at Teknaf BEZA Tourism Zone.
Detailing on a vision for constructing 10 hotels in the country, Rahman said the company has a dream to become a major hotel group in near future in the country. "We have proved our success in the hospitality services industry with our 54 years experience over the last three generations," he asserted.
Two acres of land has been purchased at the Saint Martin's Island for construction of a world class hotel of the Peninsula Group. The group has planned to construct a hotel at Rangamati hill district, he said.
The Peninsula Group also dreams of doing this business in Sri Lanka, India and Malaysia. But here, they require policy support from the government. Citing an example of Kolkata, he said the city had only two 5-Star hotels 10 years ago but now it has over 20 world standard hotels.
