A Chinese conglomerate and a Cuban company have teamed up to build a new five-star hotel on the bank of the Huangpu River in Shanghai's Pudong District.

The 700-room hotel will occupy an 11,700-square-meter area to the east of Oriental Pearl Tower, the city's well-known landmark, in Lujiazui Finance & Trade Zone. After completion, its business area will cover 70,000 square meters.

Suntime International Techno-Economic Corp., based in the northwestern autonomous region of Xinjiang, will contribute 49 percent of the total investment of US$130 million. The rest will come from CUBA NACAN Group, Cuba's largest travel company.

It's the biggest-ever project of Suntime and the largest overseas investment made by a Cuban firm.

Xinjiang Production and Construction Group, a large state-owned enterprise, is parent of Suntime. CUBA NACAN, which operates more than 500 hotels and travel agencies in Cuba, reported revenue of US$2 billion last year, accounting for 60 percent of total revenue from the country's travel industry.

Construction of the hotel, scheduled to open in early 2003, is expected to be completed at the end of next year. Sol Melia, a Spain-based hotel management company, will run the new facility.

Company executives in Shanghai said competition in the local hotel industry is becoming fierce.

"This hotel, which is very large in terms of room number, will become our new competitor," said an official of the Grand Hyatt Shanghai, who declined to be identified.

Located in Jin Mao Tower, China's tallest building, also in Lujiazui, Grand Hyatt Shanghai covers about 24,000 square meters and has 550 guest rooms.

"2002 will be tougher for us as there will be fewer major meetings than this year," said the Grand Hyatt executive.

(Eastday.com.cn 07/10/2001)