KUALA TERENGGANU, MALAYSIA : The country will have its first ever Islamic-themed hotel here within the next 2 1/2 years.

The RM20 million (S$8.8m) three-star Wakaf Hotel will include separate swimming pools for both sexes, built under a canopy, rooms provided with copies of the Quran and prayer mats, among others.

Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh, in announcing this yesterday, said the hotel would help solve the limited number of rooms here and cater to religious functions.

"It can help woo tourists, local and foreign, especially from Muslim countries, besides accommodating officials from religious departments," he said after witnessing the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the state Religious and Malay Culture Council (Maidam) and the Wakaf, Zakat and Haji Department here.

The seven-storey hotel will be built on a 0.7ha site, near the Masjid Sultan Zainal Abidin or "Masjid Putih", and the Kuala Terengganu City Council bus station.

Comprising 182 rooms, the hotel will also house two dorms, five seminar halls and three retail units.

Maidam and the Wakaf, Zakat and Haji Department will jointly operate and manage the hotel.