Rwanda: Serena Group Gets Top Hotels
The Monitor (Kampala)
Robert Mukombozi
Kigali
THE government of Rwanda has agreed to lease Kigali Intercontinental and Kivu Sun hotels to Serena Group of Hotels for 30 years. According to the contract, the renowned hotelier group would invest a total of $15m.
“We are confident that Serena group of Hotels will run the facilities effectively given the experience they have in this field in the region,” said the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr James Musoni.
Out of the total $15m investment package, Musoni explained that $4.5m would be payment for concession, while $11m will be cashed into the refurbishment and expansion of the two hotel facilities.
Flanked by the Board Chairman of Prime Holdings, Mr John Milenge, Mr Musoni described the development as “a fair deal.”
The Serena Group is owned and operated by the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED). Handing over the documents of contract to the Serena Hotels Africa Managing Director Mahmud Jan Mohamed at Prime Holdings Conference Hall in Kigali on January 9, Mr Musoni said Serena Group would boost tourism and Rwanda’s hotel industry.
Terms of the deal include expansion of the five-star Kigali
Intercontinental Hotel, an innovation that will see the facility’s
plush rooms increased by 50 and the health club improved.
For the sister Kivu Sun Hotel, the Serena Group will invest $1.5m in general face lift and improvement of its modern sports center to
encourage lake sporting activities on Lake Kivu, Rwanda’s largest lake.
“This is an encouraging step for the Serena Group of Hotels to have presence in Rwanda and this calls for more partners to ensure more investment potential are identified,” Mr Mohamed said.
The Serena Group has several five star hotels across the region,
including the Kampala Serena Hotel which was voted last year’s best investment.
Mr Mohammed said the Group would improve the two facilities into better service providers and equip them with ultra-modern facilities.
“We are not coming with a big bloom to sweep away workers but with a batch of tools to use and after they will be the best employees,” he said in an effort to calm fears that employees would be terminated.
Ismailimail 