18 May 2008
Pemba — Five international hotel chains have submitted requests to build new hotels in the northern Mozambican city of Pemba, according to the city's mayor, Agostinho Ntawane.
Ntawane told AIM that three of the requests are to build five star hotels. These would compete with the Pemba Beach Hotel, the only existing five star hotel in the city. Building work on some of these investments should start later this year.
Ntawane did not put a figure on the money involved in these investments but said they would help reduce the unemployment rate in Pemba.
He was speaking in an interval during a meeting to assess the potential of the Bay of Pemba, which is bidding to enter the Most Beautiful Bays in the World Club. Not only are the beaches of Pemba clean and unspoiled, but the city is also the jumping off point for the islands of the Quirimbas Archipelago, whose rich marine life led the government to declare the whole area a national park.
The Bay of Pemba extends for about 200 kilometres, contains a variety of ecosystems, including estuaries, mangrove forests, wetlands and seaweed carpets, and is described as the third largest bay in the world.
The Most Beautiful Bays in the World Club, which currently has 30 members, was set up in Berlin in 1997, and works closely with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), particularly in matters of environmental and cultural conservation.
A group of experts from the Club, led by its Executive Secretary, Michelle Pauly, has been visiting Cabo Delgado this weekend to assess the physical state of the Bay of Pemba. Ntawane told AIM he is convinced that the Bay enjoys all the conditions required to become a member of the club.
He stressed that the waters of the Bay are not polluted, and he vegetation long its shores is still well conserved.
Mz/pf (323)
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