Public Agenda (Accra)
4 July 2008
editorial
Accra — In one of the inside pages of this edition, there is a story of how the refusal of some jockeys to vacate the Accra Race Course has stalled the construction of a 5-star hotel on the piece of land close to the Accra International Conference Centre.
Much as stakeholders in the industry are agreed that tourism has the potential to generate more foreign exchange for the country, they are doing little to improve hotel accommodation and other tourism facilities.
The recent hosting of the MTN African Cup of Nations in Ghana, the Ghana@50 Anniversary celebration and the UNCTAD conference exposed the chronic shortage of quality hotel accommodation in the country, especially the 4 and 5 star hotels.
During the Ghana@50 celebration, government, realising the embarrassing lack of accommodation, was compelled to virtually construct new buildings from scratch.
According to the latest figures, Ghana is nowhere near meeting her accommodation requirements for the upscale market. This is quite disappointing for a country that is positioning itself to be a major force in West African tourism.
It therefore comes as a surprise to read that the construction of a new five-star international hotel complex, earmarked for the former Accra Race Course has been stalled by the refusal of jockeys to move to the new modern-state-of-the-art race course at the cost of $2million at "Malejor" around East Legon.
Thus the refusal of the jockeys to move to the new site has delayed the 250-room hotel at the cost of over $50 million with funds from the Africa Development Bank and the ABSA Bank of South Africa.
This newspaper has gathered that on completion, the hotel is expected to provide jobs for more than 700 people and will be managed by a leading international hotels group, Kempinski Hotels.
Latest information available to this paper indicates that other investors, who have been monitoring the frustration the Kempinski Group is facing , are re-evaluating their agreements; with the view to backing out if they cannot be guaranteed access to the sites they need for the construction of their businesses.
Government must as a matter of urgency, therefore, step in to staunch the loss of money to the sponsors of this project and more importantly, re-instil the confidence the international community has in Ghana. The Tourism Ministry should move and persuade the jockeys to move their horses to the new site for the hotel to be constructed to boost conference tourism.
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