KUALA LUMPUR: South Korea’s Ssangyong Engineering & Construction (Ssangyong E&C) has clinched a US$81 million (RM258.39 million) deal to build a six-star St Regis hotel in Langkawi, the main hotel for the Asean Plus Three Summit scheduled to be held in Malaysia next year.
The company said it has signed a contract with Indonesia-based Rajawali Group to build the St Regis hotel and a convention centre in Langkawi.
“The company sealed the 82 billion won (US$81 million) contract to build facilities for the upcoming Asean Plus Three Summit in Malaysia,” it said in a statement.
The gathering of Asian leaders in Langkawi will be held in April.
The order for the hotel was placed by Integrated Nautical Resorts Sdn Bhd, the company said.
All 87 rooms will be high-end suites, Ssangyong said.
The hotel will also have 16 water villas, private piers for yachts and swimming pools.
The St Regis in Langkawi will be run by Starwood Hotel and Resorts, which operates the Westin, Sheraton and W hotel chains.
It is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world, with 1,169 properties in nearly 100 countries and 171,000 employees.
Ssangyong E&C said the luxury hotel construction in Langkawi is one of the key features in the government’s premium resort development plan, aimed at transforming the island into a world-class tourist destination comparable to Bali in Indonesia, and Monaco before the global event.
“The company has made all-out efforts to win an additional contract for a project to develop Langkawi since it completed civil work for the site in August last year,’’ it said.
Ssangyong E&C, which is South Korea’s 13th-largest builder by construction capacity, hopes that the overseas deal would boost its efforts to end the court protection placed on it.
“The hotel deal in Malaysia will give the company a leg up as it tries to redeem its reputation as a global builder of premium commercial buildings,’’ the company said.
Ssangyong E&C has been targeting overseas orders since it filed for court protection in December. Despite financial hardship, the builder said it had been running a total of 18 building projects in eight countries this year, including in Singapore, India and Iraq, worth a total of some three trillion won.