Work on hotel at Race Course to commence

Accra, July 23, GNA - An exercise to demolish unauthorised structures at he old Race Course in Accra to pave way for the construction of a 250-room hotel began on Wednesday. The exercise is being carried out by the Ghana Tourist Board (GTB) and supervised by the Ghana Police Service. Chief Superintendent Christian Tetteh Yohuno, Commander of Operations, Greater Accra Region, briefing the media said the police were invited by the GTB to provide security during the demolition exercise.

"Most of the people have their belongings in there and they have turned the stables into bedrooms. We are not here to destroy but to make sure their personal belongings are conveyed away safely," he said. Mr Muntari Ali, Assistant Chairman of the Horse Owners Association, said the Association has since February received letters from the Ghana Tourist Board asking them to relocate to the new site behind Ashaley Botwe.

According to him, they called on Mr Kwadwo Mpiani, Chief of Staff and Minister of Presidential Affairs, and pleaded with him to extend the period for the new site to be developed before relocating. Mr Ali said: "The period we pleaded for is not up. We were surprised that this morning the police came in to ask us to park all our belongings and that there is going to be a demolition exercise." He said the colonial master gave the site to Accra Turf Club after they left in 1953 adding the land did not belong to government but it was for the Ga stool.

The site has been earmarked for the construction of a new five-star international hotel complex but squatters residing there have refused to quit the.

The 250-room hotel, which is to be constructed by a leading international hotels group, Kempinski Hotels, at the cost of $49.4 million with funds from the Africa Development Bank and the ABSA Bank of South Africa, is expected to provide jobs for more than 700 people. The main sponsor is the Government of Ghana. However, the refusal of the squatters - many of whom are jockeys - to quit the site after several notices, has delayed the project unnecessarily, despite the fact that the contractors are prepared to move to the site. 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.