FIVE-YEAR SEARCH FOR COMPANY TO RUN E4BN ICC&FISH

mfanukhona@times.co.sz

EZULWINI –Tall order!  While the construction of the international convention centre and five star hotel in Ezulwini takes shape, government is yet to find a company to run the facility.

With its hotel in Pigg’s Peak changing operators on a frequent basis and also struggling to secure an operator, it seems the search for the hospitality company to manage the ICC&FISH at a profit has not yet yielded results.

The search for the operator to run this 500-room hotel and convention centre began in 2014. In five years, there is still no breakthrough.
Dr Tambo Gina, the Minister of Economic Planning and Development, remarked in his report tabled in Parliament that the lack of an operator for the ICC&FISH remained a major delay in the completion of the projects.

Dr Gina said the interior fit out could not be finalised without the operator. A source said most of the management companies wanted hotel owners to meet brand standards for the hospitality company contracted to manage the facility. 

Government sources stated that the operator would have to conduct a study to ascertain the viability of the business in Ezulwini. Sources said the operator would have to devise a business strategy to outwit its competitors in the neighbourhood, which include Royal Villas and Royal Swazi Spa-Sun International. 
“The hotel will be the largest in the country. At full occupancy, it will accommodate 500 people,” said the source.

“Operators look at the number of tourists who book for accommodation and take a decision based on that. In this case, they do not want to take a risk and run a big hotel like the FISH in Ezulwini.”

In 2014, government reportedly engaged four international hotel operators to run the facility.
However, none of the talks yielded positive results.

These were Sheraton, Hilton, Intercontinental and Millennium Hotels.
Hilton preferred to manage the four-star hotel (Hilton Gardens) in Mbabane, which is owned by the Public Service Pension Fund (PSPF).
Dr Gina was reported to be out of the country when this newspaper tried to get hold of him. Bheki Bhembe, the principal secretary, was also out of the country.
Thula Simelane, the Communications Officer in the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development, did not revert to us with responses even though she had promised to do so.

Moses Vilakati, the Minister of Tourism and Environmental Affairs, said his ministry was fully involved in the scouting of the operator. He said other ministries were also involved.
He did not give details on the hospitality companies they were poaching to relocate to Eswatini to manage the facility.
Percy Simelane, the Government Press Secretary, could only say: “I am not aware of any companies to operate the ICC&FISH.”

However, sources said the mothballing of the Ezulwini Sun, which had 60 rooms, might scare off potential operators. Ezulwini Sun is a stone’s throw away from the ICC&FISH construction site. Mothballing means stop using (a piece of equipment or a building) but keep it in good condition so that it can readily be used again.

On the other hand, the ICC&FISH project seeks to stimulate economic growth in the tourism sector as the hotel was envisaged to accommodate big international conferences.

The ICC building consists of a single building, with an approximate floor area of 40 000m2, that will house a 1 800-seat theatre, an exhibition centre, conferencing chambers, a restaurant and a multi-purpose hall across its two basements, a ground floor and a first floor.

The roofs will consist of a combination of concrete roof slabs and a structural steel roof structure, which will be covered either by steel roof sheeting or by glass. Some of these curved structural steel roofs will span 56 metres, and there is also an elliptically-shaped dome which will span 48 metres.
The building finishes are of very high specifications and the facades are a combination of specialised cementitious coatings, aluminium cladding and plaster and paint.

The Eswatini News reported that the facility was being fitted with luxurious bathrooms that would cost the taxpayer at least E275 000 per bathroom.
The total amount that government was expected to pay for the bathrooms was fixed at E78 million.

The total cost for the project now stands at over E4 billion. It was said that the bathrooms were manufactured and assembled in Italy and were being fitted by a local company, ACS, which is based in Matsapha.

Meanwhile, the House of Assembly approved the E1.2 billion International Convention Centre and Five Star Hotel (ICC&FISH) Loan Bill.
Government wants to borrow E1.2 billion from the Export-Import Bank of the Republic of China on Taiwan.
Of the E1.2 billion, it was mentioned in Parliament that E493 million would be used to pay outstanding debts.

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