Kingdom Hotel Investments plans to develop a 250-room luxury hotel in Kampala.

The hotel and resort investment company will construct a hotel with an estimated cost of 60 mln usd.The company recently signed signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ugandan government to lease a 15 acre site for 99 years.

Saudi prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, said the company hoped to capture rising demand from business travellers to the region. Half of the construction would initially be financed from equity with the other half coming from debt.

The company aims to refinance the hotel about three years after its opening, which is expected in late 2009.

By Kisibo Jackie
Uganda Hotel News

AYA Hilton Hotel, a five-star 24-storey Hotel being built on Nakasero Hill is not targeting the commonwealth.The hotel is not building for one event, but has an aim to host visitors for over 100 years to come.

The Hotel will have 300 rooms and eight presidential suites of international standards. The hotel will also have parking space for at least 1,500 cars. Mohamed Mohamed Hamid, the AYA Group of Companies managing director, said that up to 2,000 employees would be recruited and 95% of these would be locals. “After six months of opening, the staff will be trained abroad to meet international standards,” Hamid said.

Hamid said his investments in Uganda include AYA Investments, real estates dealers, Fifi Transport Limited, which recently imported 100 new model Actros-1348 Mercedes Benz trucks worth $25m and the Pan Afric Commodities Limited that has four wheat mills of Aya Biscuit, Aya Bakery, Aya Import and Export Traders.

“We approached the Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) with a project proposal and plan, and because it was a big investment of $90m, we went to meet President Yoweri Museveni to get his assurance that there will be no interference with the construction, land allocation and total investment,” Hamid said.

Hamid said the hotel will be built in 15 months, but denied that he is targeting the Commonwealth Summit.

By Kisibo Jackie
Uganda hotel News

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Alsaud, a member of the Saudi Royal Family,who was recently given the 15.1 acres of land on which Shimoni Demonstration School to construct a five-star hotel has signed a memorandum of understanding to pave way for his investments in Uganda.
Alwaleed who controls assets worth $25b, signed a memorandum of understanding with President Yoweri Museveni on Tuesday night at the Imperial Resort Beach Hotel.
The Saudi billionaire and the world’s fifth richest man, plans to build three hotels in Uganda. The prince has investments in banking, telecommunications, media, entertainment, hospitality, computers and electronics, agriculture, upscale fashion, retailing, supermarkets, tourism, travel and automotive manufacturing.
He has shares in 49 companies that include AOL Time Warner, Citigroup, Ford Motor Company, Hewlett Packard, Kodak Corporation, Motorola, Pepsi, Four Seasons Hotels and the Gillete Company

Alwaleed informed Museveni about the activities of his company, Kingdom Zephyr Africa Management Company (KZAM), whose investment wing is Kingdom Holding International. KZAM runs Norfolk hotels in Kenya and bought 96% shares in the Royal Palm Hotel in Dar-es-Salaam.

Museveni was optimistic that the business partnership between Uganda and Saudi Arabia would benefit the people of the two countries in particular and the rest of the world.

By Kisibo Jackie
Uganda Hotel News

Hundreds of revellers turned up for the PAM Awards launch on Saturday night at the Crested Crane Hotel gardens. The PAM Awards launch kicked off with a Bell Lager pre-launch party on Friday night at Cool Breeze in Jinja.

Over 43 artistes from the region were showcased, like Ayub Khan with Kawoiwolo,
Kennedy and Daudi and Geo Bless, the Eastworld with Foda who turned up on stage dressed in skirts. Kampala artistes like Lyrical G, Fina Mugerwa, Winnie Munyenga, Kid Fox, Annette Mutyaba (Gospel), but most especially Buchaman, were also at their best.
Artistes like Sweet Kid, Buchaman and General Mega Dee also performed.

By Kisibo Jackie
Uganda Hotel News

Dr. William Muhairwe, the NWSC managing director, said last week that only hotels that have been inspected and found to have proper water systems would host participants. Muhairwe was last week presenting a paper on ‘Turning around a struggling venture’ at the British Council management forum at the Sheraton Kampala Hotel. This has been done to ensure that we maintain the highest hygiene standards

The National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) has warned that hotels that do not get approval from it would not host any guests to Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) due in Kampala next year.

He called upon organisations to break boundaries at work places through interaction.

By Kisibo Jackie
Uganda hotel news