Haile Gebreselassie is completing a resort hotel in Arba Minch in few months.
borkena,Ethiopia News
October 15,2017
Source : Ethiopian Reporter
Travellers to the city of Arba Minch in Southern Ethiopia can, soon, stay in a four-star resort hotel. The hotel is located in a way to give a panoramic view to lake Abaya and Lake Chamo which is in proximity to the hotel.
Haile Gebreselassie, who made a name for himself as the greatest long-distance runner in history, is building the resort hotel at a cost of 250 million Ethiopian Birr.
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The three-story building covers 41,313 square meters land and will have amenities like swimming pool, spa, gym, conference hall and a mini golf yard. It is also to have 108 rooms.
Haile Gebreselassie told Ethiopian Reporter that “the site is the best location in Arba Minch commonly called “Ye Igzer Dildiy” situated by two large lakes that are separated by a land bridge. According to Haile, construction commenced in September 2016 and within a year 85 percent of the work is completed.”
Haile opened his first resort hotel in Awassa about eight years ago in Hawassa and plans to increase his hotel chains in Ethiopia to a total of 20. Currently, he has resort hotels in Ziway and Shashemane towns along the road to southern Ethiopia. His hotel business has so far employed about 700 Ethiopians. And he is operating his hotel business with “Run to win, serve to impress.”
He is also currently building more hotels in Addis Ababa and Nazret, now also known as Adama, some 100 kilometers south-east of Addis Ababa.
His company, Haile and Alem International investment group, is also active in real estate, agriculture, gold exploration, education and automotive businesses.
Haile and Alem International Investment group has developed the capacity for undertaking construction with in-house contractors.
In Sheka zone, southern Ethiopia, Haile has a coffee plantation and bee farm has so far exported once.
Haile identified a shortage of foreign currency and government bureaucracy as challenges that are delaying project completion. Haile hopes to tackle foreign exchange shortage with the export of more coffee from his coffee plantation.
The government itself has a chronic foreign exchange problem and has recently announced a 15 percent devaluation of Ethiopian Birr.
Editor’s note: this post is written based on a report by Ethiopian Reporter.
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