The iconic Taj Palace and The Oberoi wear a solemn look as they stand facing the Arabian Sea but restoration works are fast progressing inside the luxury hotels, extensively damaged in the 26/11 terror strikes, to throw them open to public again by this yearend.

Located hardly two kilometres from each other, the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel and The Oberoi and Trident hotels, were badly damaged in the terror strike nearly six months ago that left 166 dead and 234 injured.

"The restoration will take another six months to complete. The planning itself takes two to three months. So, it is expected that by December 2009, The Oberoi would be fully refurbished to be thrown open to our guests," Oberoi Group Vice-Chairman S S Mukherjee told PTI.

Mukherjee said there are multiple agencies at work doing up the air-conditioning system, the elevators, electric network, the water pipelines and the flooring.

"It's difficult to say how many rooms are complete. About 30-50 per cent work are over," he said.

Tata-owned Taj opened the Sea Lounge in its 103-year old heritage wing on May 1. "We just have to get the suites open and make functional the Golden Dragon (restaurant) and the Harbour Bar," the Taj spokesperson said.

Both hotels opened their tower wings to guests on December 21 last year, three weeks after the terror attacks.

R K Krishna Kumar, Vice Chairman of Indian Hotels Company (IHCL), which runs Taj, had then said that the north block of the heritage wing is expected to be ready by February 2009 while the south block will be ready by end of next year.

Wasabi and Harbour Bar in the old wing of Taj were badly gutted, he had said. "Roof Top Rendezvous, which is a banquet hall in the Tower Wing, was converted into Wasabi. We now have to get Wasabi back to its original location," the Taj spokesperson said. Taj has already thrown open restaurants like Souk, Shamiana, Zodiac Grill, Starboard and Masala Kraft.

Neither of the hotels have laid off any staff.

"We do have a little more extra hands at Trident, but most have been put into retraining in small batches. Many are engaged in restoration at the Oberoi, while some are on their annual leaves," Mukherjee said.

Security at the 550-room Trident and 278-room Taj Tower has also been beefed up in addition to the armed guards deployed by the government.

Both hotels have received the first installment of the insurance amount from their respective insurance companies for restoration. While Trident is insured for Rs 780 crore, the Oberoi is covered for Rs 650 crore. The Taj has an insurance cover of Rs 1,000 crore.