The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a U.S.$ 18 million loan to GCC Resorts Limited Company for the construction of Kempinski Hotel in Accra, Ghana. The project, approved on 29 September 2010 in Tunis, includes the construction and operation of a 267-room 5-star hotel in Accra, which will deliver a world-class accommodation and congress facilities that are required to host the increasing volume of business, cultural and governmental activities.

In order to fill the financing gap resulting from the financial crisis, the Bank has played a key role in resource mobilization by increasing its initial participation with U.S.$ 2 million and by attracting new financial partners: ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) and the Société Générale Ghana.

The Kempinski Hotel project is the Bank's first operation in the hospitality sector in Ghana. The real innovation in the project is the establishment of a program of guidance and support to local SMEs so that they benefit from opportunities for subcontracting work and services during the hotel's construction. The Bank proposed the program to its partners to increase the project's development impact.

The project supports the Bank's private sector development strategy by simultaneously putting in place new infrastructure to support the development of local enterprises, and by demonstrating the relevance of public-private partnerships in the hospitality industry, which should facilitate future Bank's projects in the industry in other parts of the continent.

Contacts

Onike Nicol-Houra