CHOGM hotels alter Kampala City skyline

The Commonwealth inspection team, which toured the hotels in Kampala, recently, said they were satisfied with the progress.  4,000 hotel rooms required for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in November have been identified. This has not only doubled the number of rooms of international standards in Kampala, it has also changed the city’s skyline and improved on tourism facilities in Uganda.

Matthew Neuhaus the Commonwealth director for political affairs said, a lot of progress has been made since they first came, they have been moving quite fast. Among the new hotels inspected by the team is Kampala Serena Hotel, with 152 rooms including one presidential suite, expected to accommodate the Queen of England, and Imperial Royale, which is still under construction, with 212, two of which are presidential suites. The team also visited Hotel Africana, which built an additional block with 110 rooms, bringing its total number of rooms to 225, and the renovated Sheraton Hotel, which has 222 rooms including four presidential suites.
The team ended its tour at the Speke Resort Munyonyo, which has 143 rooms and is still constructing a presidential village. The palatial Munyonyo is made up of 60 spacious and luxurious rooms, with an eye-dazzling décor. The Government injected sh8b into the project, which is a joint venture with Sudhir’s Meera Investments. For the heads of state who will bring along their spouses, each suite has two spacious bedrooms joined into one, two state-of-the-art bathrooms, specially imported beds that are custom-designed, a fully-stocked bar and a posh central sitting room for the president’s aides. The interior architect, brought in from India to design the presidential suites, Christine Mortier, said the works would be completed by the end of July.  November 2007 is the month and year of jubilation to Uganda as both the government and the local communities will benefit from CHOGM. Ranging from Universities, culture, religion, markets, nature and monument will be toured as one of the Uganda safaris by the delegates. This summit is one of its first kinds to be held in Uganda that has greatly benefited tourism industry through Hotel development. The summit will also increase on Uganda tours and hence revenue to the industry.