KARACHI – A Pakistani billionaire has announced the build the South Asiancountry’s first six-star international hotel in the port city

In an exclusive interview with Profitlink>,Habibullah Khan said: “We’re going to make a district with four differentcomponents. One will be a globally recognized six-star hotel [in Karachi].”

There would also be branded apartments sharing the hotel’s facilities, headded.

Khan has used his own funds to buy Hotel Metropole, a near-abandoned hotelcomplex spread over 4 acres right in the middle of the financial districtof Karachi.

“We want to build a city within the city and we have been workingextensively to achieve this,” he told Profitlink>.

Talking about how he purchased the heritage site, he said that past ownersof Hotel Metropole were Zoroastrian, more commonly known as Parsis, who hadbeen trying to sell their property for a decade.

“There were many interested parties, but few had the kind of liquidity andappetite to consummate the transaction fast,” Khan said adding “By thegrace of God, within two months we closed the deal”.

His company Mega Conglomerate has been considering to award the designcontract to renowned British-Iraqi architecture firm Zaha Hadid Architectsor Louis Vidal of Spain, both of whom have already given their proposal forthe complex. A third UK architecture firm is in the running as well.

Khan is known as the largest player in dairy after Nestle and Engro Foods.He has been actively working to acquire a financial institution besidesbeing a huge player in the energy sector, having recently acquired a majorstake in Hub Power (Hubco).