The inspection team of Department of Tourism (DoT) handed red placard to The Everest Hotel in Kathmandu, today, as its pillars were found to have suffered damages due to the earthquake. Subsequently, the department has urged the management to vacate the fully-occupied hotel. The Everest Hotel, located in New Baneshwor, is the first five-star hotel of the country to receive the red placard, which means ‘the structure has been seriously damaged and is unsafe’, according to Kosh Nath Adhikari, technical director of DoT.
“We found three pillars of the main block of the hotel had been damaged and we decided to give it red placard because we can’t take any chances in such cases.” As per Adhikari, the structure of The Everest Hotel does not need to be demolished, but does require major repair works like retrofitting and adoption of other safety measures to strengthen the building. Chairman of the hotel, MA Lari, could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.
As per senior level staffers, the hotel has shifted its guests to other hotels after the DoT’s inspection. DoT, under the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, has given red placards to other hotels as well. The Heritage Block of Kastamandap Guest House of Lazimpat has also been given the red placard. The guest house, however, has four additional buildings that have received green placards. Likewise, casino building of Hotel Annapurna also received red placard and the hotel has already started demolishing the building, according to Shreejana Rana, executive director of the hotel.
Likewise, one of the buildings of Dhulikhel Lodge and Resort got red placard, while the remaining four buildings are safe to stay and got green placard. The Hunter’s Lodge of Gokarna Forest Resort has also been rated ‘unsafe’, while three other buildings of the resort got the green placard, according to Adhikari. The casino building of Hyatt Regency Kathmandu, another five-star hotel of the Capital, was given a yellow placard by the inspection team. The Budget Hotel of Thamel had totally collapsed during the earthquake of April 25.
The government mobilised the technical team from DoT to check the safety of hotel buildings after the massive earthquake. A five-member committee formed under the leadership of Technical Director of DoT, Adhikari comprises two engineers from Department of Urban Development and Building Construction, First Vice President of Hotel Association Nepal, Amar Man Shakya and a representative of National Society for Earthquake Technology-Nepal (NSET ). They have been inspecting the hotels located in all affected districts, including Kathmandu Valley. The committee, so far, has checked most of the five-star hotels in Kathmandu. Hotel Soaltee Crowne Plaza, Hotel Shangri-La, Radisson Hotel, Hyatt Regency Kathmandu and Hotel Annapurna have been termed ‘safe’. The five-star international chains in Nepal were inspected by the international assessment team immediately after the earthquake. The government’s inspection team also inspected Hotel Malla (Lainchaur), Amar Hotel ( Tahachal), Grand Hotel ( Tahachal), Platinum Hotel ( Tahachal) and Hotel Manang ( Thamel) and handed them green placards.
After the quake, renowned Hotel Shanker and Royal Singi Hotel of Kathmandu have halted their operations as their buildings were damaged and they are planning to resume their services only after carrying out necessary repair and maintenance works. The committee will continue to inspect all tourist standard hotels of the quakeaffected areas across the country.
