90 percent of Valley hotels declared safe to stay

Though many high-rises in Kathmandu Valley have been declared unfit for living, most of the hotels here have received green stickers from authorities, meaning they are safe to stay.

Of the 30 hotels monitored so far by the Department of Tourism (DoT) in the Valley and in Dhulikhel so far, 90 percent have received green stickers. The monitoring team of DoT on Tuesday assessed the buildings of Hotel Mums Home, Hotel Norling Nepal, Hotel Friends Home and Shree Tibet Family Guest House. All the hotels received green stickers."We have found more than 90 percent of hotels that we monitored safe to accommodate tourists," Kosh Nath Adhikari, senior divisional engineer of DoT, said. "Of the eight five-star hotels in Kathmandu, six have received green stickers while New Baneshwar-based The Everest Hotel has received red sticker. We are yet to assess the buildings of Hotel Yak & Yeti."

The five-star hotels, which have been declared fit to accommodate guests, are Radisson Hotel Kathmandu, Hotel Shangri La, The Malla Hotel, Hotel Annapurna, Hyatt Regency Kathmandu and Soaltee Crowne Plaza.

"Hotel Yak & Yeti was safe when we assessed its buildings after the earthquake of April 25. It will probably get green sticker as the aftershock of May 12 hasn't caused damaged in the buildings," added Adhikari.

Two casinos on the premises of five-star hotels -- Casino Anna at Hotel Annapurna and Casino Tara at Hyatt Regency -- have been marked unsafe and have received red and yellow stickers, respectively.

The department has given red stickers to some buildings of some resorts. Block No.3 of Dhulikhel Lodge Resort has received red sticker. "Of the five blocks, Block No.3 has sustained serious damage," said Adhikari.

Similarly, Hunter Lodge of Gokarna Forest Resort has also received red sticker.

"We have only conducted preliminary assessment of hotel building. The detailed study of the buildings, which have received red stickers, has to be conducted by the owner themselves to find out whether general maintenance or retrofitting would do or the building has to be totally demolished and rebuilt," added Adhikari.

Other hotels which have received green stickers are Hotel Grande, Platinum Hotel and Spa, Hotel Manang, Hotel Vaishali, Hotel Manaslu, Hotel Shambala, Hotel Moonlight, Hotel Garuda, Heritage Home Hotel and Guest House, and New Hotel Panda.

"After completing inspections of hotels in Kathmandu Valley, we will begin inspection of hotels in Nagarkot as we have received information that many hotels there are damaged by the earthquake," said Adhikari.

source: republica,3 june 2015