The government of Rwanda is among entities that showed interest in buying Nobilis hotel building owned by SONARWA Assurance Ltd, the Chief Budget Manager at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Marie Ange Hakiba Ingabire, told the Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on September 25.
It is located in Kiyovu, Kigali - 1.5 km away from the city centre.
The acquisition of the hotel building - which has been lying idle for six years - would not be intended for running it for hotel business, but rather to increase the government's capacity to provide offices to public institutions, according to Ingabire.
"There is no other plan for the building apart from using it to complement other Government buildings in line with a plan to accommodate public entities," she said.
Rwanda Housing Authority is seeking to address office rental costs for public entities, which amount to approximately Rwf12 billion annually. Currently, the government rents 85,000 square meters (m2) of office space for 35 public entities, including agencies and courts of law.
PAC Chairperson Valens Muhakwa asked whether the hotel building is fit for public staff offices, or whether its acquisition would mean additional expenses on the side of the Government to repurpose it.
Ingabire said such a factor will be examined based on advice that will be provided by Rwanda Housing Authority - an agency in charge of public building construction, and management of public office space, among other functions.
"I don't think that we can reach the final stage without taking that into account and finding a solution for it," Ingabire said.
The chief executive officer of SONARWA Life Assurance Company Ltd, Dianah Mukundwa told PAC members during a hearing held on September 22, that the hotel sale would help to improve its liquidity after the Auditor General's report exposed it as lying idle.
According to the Auditor General's report on the financial year that ended on June 30, 2022, the hotel in question was not put to use since its completion in 2017.
It indicated the National Bank of Rwanda - the insurance sector regulator in the country - instructed SONARWA Life Assurance Company Ltd to sell the property.
This, it pointed out, was primarily meant to meet the solvency requirements and maintain the financial strength and soundness of the company, and on the grounds that it is not a core business of the insurance firm.
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Mukundwa told parliamentarians that Nobilis was constructed in 2016.
She said there was an investor who wanted to get the hotel on a lease agreement, utilise it, and pay for it through the hotel income it would generate from its operations in a period of between three and five years.
"It has been an idle asset. It is an asset that has been there for close to seven years without generating a return on investment," she said, expressing optimism that its sale will help it to recoup Rwf6.9 billion that was invested in it.
On the hotel features, the insurer indicated that the building stands on a 0.524-hectare area. It is a 7-floor building, with a paved parking lot for 200 cars, and an office block.
The hotel has 61 rooms. These consist of 30 Standard double, four standard twin rooms, 22 executive rooms, and five junior suites according to the insurer, which added that it also has banqueting and conferencing facilities, a residential house, and a swimming pool.
