Uzbekistan auctions off landmark Soviet-era hotel

Uzbekistan has sold a controlling stake in its most famous hotel to a firm based in Singapore as Tashkent tries to breathe new life into the Soviet-era Brutalist landmark.
The sale of Hotel Uzbekistan, which once featured regularly on postcards of the capital, comes as the central Asian country seeks to draw foreign investment and tourists.
Singapore-based Bashan Investment Group has acquired 80 percent of the huge hotel for $23.2 million in a competitive auction, Uzbekistan's state assets management agency said this week.
The state will retain a minority stake. The company plans to invest nearly $40 million in modernising the 17-floor hotel over the next year and a half, it said. Terms of the tender require that the building's facade remain unchanged for the next 10 years however.
Many ordinary Uzbeks welcomed the sale. "They did the right thing," said Raup Rakhimov, a 42-year-old taxi driver parked close to the hotel on Friday. "Hotel Uzbekistan has become outdated. Foreigners don't go there anymore - they choose new hotels and guesthouses," Rakhimov told AFP.