Saudi Company To Build Five-Star Hotel In Accra

Accra, Ghana (PANA)- Vice-President John Atta Mills of Ghana on Tuesday, cut the sod for the commencement of work on a 200- million-dollar Five-Star hotel in Accra, the capital.

The 340-room Palace Hotel Complex will also have a 385- condominium apartment blocks. Work will begin in June 2000. The project, a joint venture between the government and Air Harbour Technologies of Saudi Arabia, is expected to be undertaken in two phases and would be completed within 30 months.

Air Harbour, led by its Executive Chairman, Hani Yamani, is providing 100 percent of the cost while government contributed the land and other initial logistics.

The facility, which the organisers say "is in a class of its own in the sub- region," would have 12,000 square-metres of offices, an ultra-modern recreational centre, food outlets, sports complex, a 5,000-square metre area for a shopping mall and a car park to accommodate 2,000 vehicles.

Mills said the project marks a healthy partnership towards meeting the shortfall in the hospitality industry and urged all stakeholders to ensure the realisation of a 15-year tourism development plan for the country.

He said with a projected economic growth rate of 10 percent by the year 2010, Ghana would be able to attract more than one million tourists which would generate a little over 1.5 billion dollars.

Owuraku Amofa, Deputy Minister of Tourism, and Chairman of the Ghana Tourist Board, said the partnership for the project was based on mutual trust, respect and commitment to sustain the private sector position as the engine of growth in national economic development.

Yamani said the project means a greater leap in the Ghanaian industry in terms of competition and efficiency besides its impact on the economy.

"It will be one of the greatest legacies of President Rawlings' government."

Yamani, who has invested in the construction industry world- wide, expressed the hope that with "transparency and efficient relationship," the project would become a reality in 30 months.