Moscow, July 14 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Floating hotels converted from old boats will appear on the Moscow river's embankments in the next few years in a bid to cover the shortage of hotel rooms in the Russian capital.
"We have many free embankments and it is not difficult to connect the boats to electricity and other utility lines. We are planning to make over 50 such hotels," said Konstantin Timofeyev, head of the Moscow government committee for construction development.
"Even if every hotel has 100 rooms, the overall number will be more than 5,000 rooms," he said.
Timofeyev said the first such hotels are expected by the end of this year.
Moscow is very short of hotel space, and has only 30 percent of the capacity it needs. The capital city needs at a time around 300,000 hotel rooms.