Construction of new five-star hotel complex stalls

Accra, June 3, GNA- Construction of a new five-star international hotel complex earmarked for the former Accra Race Course in Accra has been stalled following the refusal of squatters to quit the site. The 250-room hotel, which is to be constructed by leading international hotels group, Kempinski Hotels, at the cost $49.4 million with funds from the African Development Bank and the ABSA Bank of South Africa is expected to provide jobs to more than 700 people. The Government of Ghana is the other financier.

Whereas members of the Accra Turf Club, who have the official mandate to run the race course have vacated the premises, squatters at the site, mostly jockeys, have refused to pack up despite repeated notices served on them.

Also on the site illegally was Energo Project, a Yugoslav Company, which has also been served quit notices but has failed to move out. The Accra Turf Club has been relocated to a site at Ashalley Botwe, where a modern race course is being constructed by the investors, Kempinski, at the cost of $2 million.

According to Mr. Joseph B. Baja, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Accra Turf Club, the squatters had been told that no jockey or horse owner would be allowed to turn the new race course into a residential place.

He said the claim that the new race course being constructed at Ashalley Botwe, near the Accra-Tema Motorway, was not suitable for horse racing was unfounded.

"It is a first class facility and we opted for a sandy turf because it is easier to maintain than a grass turf," Mr Baja stated. The squatters moved to the place when activities at the club were suspended as a result of the construction of the Accra International Conference Centre for a meting of the Non-Aligned Movement. He explained that the PNDC government at the time tried to relocate them to a site at Nii Boi Town but that did not materialise because of lack of funds.

The Kempinski Hotels Group is reputed to be Europe's oldest luxury hotel group with more than 55 luxurious properties stretching across Africa, Asia, South America, Middle East and Europe.

Founded originally in Germany in 1897, Kempinski presently has properties in cities such as Budapest, Berlin, Beijing, St Moritz, London, Abu Dhabi and Istanbul. 3 July 08