The Jogo Hotel and Leisure Complex at Bwebajja on Entebbe Road will create over 1,000 new jobs on completion.

Joseph Behakanira the managing director of Avemar Group said the multi-million project would be one of the largest and the first of its kind in the region. It will cover 160 acres of land and house a 650-room three-star hotel.
It will have one of the largest conference halls with 10,000 sitting capacity and it will have five presidential suits, a massive shopping mall with over 250 shops and restaurants, 30 residential cottages, 20 residential apartments, three swimming pools and an airfield for small aircraft.

The hotel is meant to boost our tourism potential and that of the sector as a whole.

Joseph Behakanira also called upon the Government, through the Uganda Investment Authority, to support local investors by providing tax incentives.

By Kisibo Jackie
Uganda Hotel news

Uganda Hotel Owners Association (UHOA) is to train 35,000 employees of various hotels ahead of the CHOGM next year.

The Chairman of the Association said that they will work hand in hand with the Uthali colledge in Kenya and the Jinja Hotel training school to increase the skills of the hotel workers.

The Chairman also urged the Goverment to help the hoteliers access friendly loans to upgrade their hotels.

The Government of Uganda has formed a committee to facilitate the hosting of the Common wealth Summit in Uganda 2007.

The committee will consider the standards and accreditation of hotels. The Chairman of the committee and also permanent secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Industry, Dr Sam Nahamya has pointed out that it will work in close relationship with the service providers of hotels in Uganda.

President Yoweri Museveni has held talks with the Commonwealth Business Council (CBC) who called on him at State House, Nakasero on Monday.

The team, led by Dr. Mohan Kaul, the CBC Director General, are here to organise a business forum to precede the Commonwealth Heads of State meeting in November 2006.
Museveni and the team discussed the under-development of Africa and how best the world can tap this redundant potential, State House said in a statement.

He suggested that the theme for the meeting should be: “Using the untapped resources.”

He said there were untapped resources in both developing and developed countries. He urged leaders to focus on stimulating production and improving conditions for consumption, instead of dwelling on peripheral concerns.

Museveni said the forum will be a form of mobilisation for development, especially for African countries, so there is need for a harmonised diagnosis of problems of underdevelopment on the continent, to reach a constructive solution.

He said developing countries need to be sensitised about their resources so as to safeguard them against exploitation by foreigners and to apply the right concept of development in order to forge ahead. He cited the example of India, which developed fast as soon as they applied the right approach to development.

Kaul said India developed because the country invested heavily in technical education, which produced skilled manpower.

He said China also developed by tapping the abundant low-cost labour in their industries and urged Uganda to borrow a leaf from these two examples.

The meeting was also attended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sam Kutesa.

By Kisibo Jackie
Uganda hotel News