Benguela — At least nine hotels of two, three and four stars, in a total of 840 new rooms, shall be built in the central Benguela province, with view to accommodate national and foreign sports and tourism delegations that will flock the region for one of the stages of the African Cup of Nations (CAN'2010) in football.

ANGOP learnt of the information this Thursday from the head of the Provincial Department of Hotel and Tourism in Benguela, Timóteo Gonçalves to whom from the nine hotels five shall be state-owned, whilst the rest are private.

The start of the respective construction works is set for late 2008 and should be concluded before 2010.

He stated that, with the start functioning of such lodging units, whose projects benefit from economic, financial and technical feasibility, more than 1,000 direct jobs and another 500 indirect shall be created, mainly benefiting the local youth manpower.

Without revealing the financial amount to be spent in the works, the official said that the new hotels will increase and improve the supply of accommodation services of the region, with view to meet the current demands of the province, totalling 18 hotels and 1250 rooms.

According to the source, the current state of the sector in Benguela province is average, since roads, drinking water and electricity supply systems are improving, something that enables the presence of more tourists.

The region has some tourism sites such as the beaches named Restinga (in Lobito city), Morena and Santo António (Benguela), Baía Azul and Caotinha (Baía Farta), as well as the Biópio Hydro-electrical Power Station, the thermal waters of Kota Kota (Balombo district) and the Chimalavera Regional Game Reserve.