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By Tedla Yeneakal - Capital
23 January 2007
Accor, the much awaited international hotel chains group, which leased land near Meskel square from the Addis Ababa City Administration two years ago is set to officially launch construction this week on Wednesday, January 24, at a ceremony in the presence of top management, government officials, diplomats and invited guests. Guest of honor is to be Minister of Culture and Tourism H.E Ato Mahamud Dirir.
Accor is the world's largest hotel and tourism group with more than 4000 hotels and resorts in 90 countries and with the most comprehensive choice of hotel styles and locations. Accor's hotel brands include the luxury Sofitel, business class Novotel, the flexibility of Mercure, value of Ibis and the convenience of Formula 1 among others.
The group signed an agreement with the city two years ago that allows them to build two international class hotels in Addis Ababa at a cost of around 25 million USD near the vacant plot next to the Sunshine Construction Company headquarters adjacent to the Addis Ababa Exhibition Center. The brands to be built are, Novotel and Ibis.
Sunshine is also building another hotel near Accor’s spot.
Accor had finalized the terms with the city administration seven months ago to launch the project. The group initially planned to finalize the construction of the tow hotels this year, targeting two years back to complete construction in 24 months, while furnishing and other finishing touches should take another six months. The project, according to informed sources has been delayed over land right issues which required a revision of the original project design.
Ibis will be 12 stories and incorporate 154 rooms, international standard bars and restaurants with ample parking. Ibis is present in 36 countries with 750 hotels.
Novotel will be a six-storey building and will have 119 rooms, and shall be fitted with international standard bars, restaurants, swimming pools and parking areas. Novotel has 409 hotels in 56 countries.
The two hotels will be constructed by Kuwait’s Al Kharafi and Sons Construction at a total cost of 22 million dollars with 60% of the financing from Al Kharafi and Sons and 40% covered by Accor Group itself. Al Kharafi and Sons Construction have experience in the construction sector in Ethiopia, as they undertook the expansion works of the new terminal of Bole International Airport inaugurated in 2002.
According to information from Accor, each day, more than 21 million people in 35 countries use a range of services created and managed by Accor. In the Asia Pacific region, Accor is the largest and fastest growing hotel group of some 4000 hotels with more than 475,000 rooms in 90 countries including Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, and Korea.