Mozambique - New Tourism Projects Announced:
Agencia de Informação de Moçambique (Maputo)
NEWS
June 24, 2005
Posted to the web June 24, 2005 Maputo
The Dubai-based company Rani International on Thursday night announced new investments in the Mozambican tourism industry amounting to 60 million US dollars, to be implemented over the next three years.
The chairman of the Rani board, Adel Aujan, declared that this will double Rani's investment in Mozambique.
Over the past five years, Rani has built four luxury resorts in Mozambique in Inhambane, Cabo Delgado and Niassa provinces.
Aujan remarked "It was not easy to implement these projects.
We can even say that it took a lot of courage, willpower and determination to build these units, mostly in virgin areas where there are no facilities or basic infrastructures".
"We had to do everything, or almost everything, by ourselves", he added, "creating all the necessary support in terms of logistics and infrastructures".
But the difficulties never made the company lose heart, said Aujan, "even when faced with a series of obscure laws, and delays in taking important decisions, thanks to the bureaucracy and red tape entrenched in certain state institutions".
Far from giving up, he continued, "we have encouraged other investors to come to Mozambique to work in the tourism sector".
But Aujan gave the Mozambican authorities a clear warning that "not all investors are like us. When they begin to face difficulties, they immediately give up, These investors look for other countries to put their investments, countries that are more flexible and facilitating".
One headache that has been resolved is the question of access to some of the key resorts. Aujan pointed out that difficulties in reaching the areas where Rani has built its hotels contributed to making its operations more expensive.
But today there are regular flights to the Cabo Delgado provincial capital, Pemba, both from Johannesburg and Dar es Salaam, and the aerodrome at Vilankulo, the gateway to the Bazaruto archipelago, off the Inhambane coast, has been upgraded to an international airport.
Half of the planned new investment will be spent on expanding the Indigo Bay Island Resort on Bazaruto. Aujan said this would make Indigo Bay "able to compete with any luxury resort in the Indian Ocean and Far East".
In Cabo Delgado, Rani intends to add a new wing to the Pemba Beach hotel, with an additional 40 rooms and suites, bringing the total number of rooms to 112.
Brand new investments will be made in the Quirimbas Archipelago, off the Cabo Delgado Coast. One of these, the Medjumbe Island Resort, consisting of 12 beach chalets, will open in September, Aujan promised.
On Quissanga island "a paradise honeymoon resort, consisting of eight luxury chalets" will be built.
The existing resort on Matemo Island will be expanded with the construction of a further 12 chalets, and Rani intends to build a new hotel on another of the islands (Aujan did not say which one).
Also due to open in September, he added, is the Lugenda Bush Camp, for photographic safaris, in the Niassa Reserve, in the far north of Mozambique, the largest of the country's conservation areas.
Aujan said that Rani was committed to establishing "strong and beneficial relations with the communities where our units are located".
The company wanted to work with local people "to understand their needs and work together on projects for their benefit".
Thus on Bazaruto, he said, Rani had built schools, distributed school material, participated in the fight against malaria and against HIV/AIDS, and helped reforest degraded areas.
It had also hired local fishermen to transport people and goods from the mainland to Bazaruto.
"We shall apply these principles in all our units, so that our insertion may be a reality and the local people may benefit from our presence", said Aujan.
"We had to do everything, or almost everything, by ourselves", he added, "creating all the necessary support in terms of logistics and infrastructures".
But the difficulties never made the company lose heart, said Aujan, "even when faced with a series of obscure laws, and delays in taking important decisions, thanks to the bureaucracy and red tape entrenched in certain state institutions".
Far from giving up, he continued, "we have encouraged other investors to come to Mozambique to work in the tourism sector".
But Aujan gave the Mozambican authorities a clear warning that "not all investors are like us. When they begin to face difficulties, they immediately give up, These investors look for other countries to put their investments, countries that are more flexible and facilitating".
One headache that has been resolved is the question of access to some of the key resorts. Aujan pointed out that difficulties in reaching the areas where Rani has built its hotels contributed to making its operations more expensive.
But today there are regular flights to the Cabo Delgado provincial capital, Pemba, both from Johannesburg and Dar es Salaam, and the aerodrome at Vilankulo, the gateway to the Bazaruto archipelago, off the Inhambane coast, has been upgraded to an international airport.
Half of the planned new investment will be spent on expanding the Indigo Bay Island Resort on Bazaruto. Aujan said this would make Indigo Bay "able to compete with any luxury resort in the Indian Ocean and Far East".
In Cabo Delgado, Rani intends to add a new wing to the Pemba Beach hotel, with an additional 40 rooms and suites, bringing the total number of rooms to 112.
Brand new investments will be made in the Quirimbas Archipelago, off the Cabo Delgado Coast. One of these, the Medjumbe Island Resort, consisting of 12 beach chalets, will open in September, Aujan promised.
On Quissanga island "a paradise honeymoon resort, consisting of eight luxury chalets" will be built.
The existing resort on Matemo Island will be expanded with the construction of a further 12 chalets, and Rani intends to build a new hotel on another of the islands (Aujan did not say which one).
Also due to open in September, he added, is the Lugenda Bush Camp, for photographic safaris, in the Niassa Reserve, in the far north of Mozambique, the largest of the country's conservation areas.
Aujan said that Rani was committed to establishing "strong and beneficial relations with the communities where our units are located".
The company wanted to work with local people "to understand their needs and work together on projects for their benefit".
Thus on Bazaruto, he said, Rani had built schools, distributed school material, participated in the fight against malaria and against HIV/AIDS, and helped reforest degraded areas.
It had also hired local fishermen to transport people and goods from the mainland to Bazaruto.
"We shall apply these principles in all our units, so that our insertion may be a reality and the local people may benefit from our presence", said Aujan.
Copyright © 2005 Agencia de Informação de Moçambique.
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Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
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