Plans for new $40m five-star hotel unveiled

Artistic impression of Five-Star hotel to be constructed in Kigali City by Hong Kong registered company, New Century Development Limited.

New Century Development Limited, a Hong Kong registered company yesterday unveiled a plan for a Five Star Hotel they will construct in the heart of Kigali City.
The Hotel, which will be located at the current Jali Club and the Headquarters of both Rwanda Television and Nyarugenge District premises, will be constructed at a cost of $40m (approx. Frw22bn).
“The construction begins in January next year and will take two years for the hotel to be fully finished,” said Billy Y.T Cheung, the Chief Executive Officer of African Star Limited, a subsidiary of New Century Development.
According to Cheung, the hotel, which will have over 200 luxury rooms, is the first investment the company, which mainly deals in real estate development, is sinking on the African continent.
“We chose to invest in Rwanda before any other African country because of, among others, the political stability…this is what investors look for in the first place,” said Cheung at a press briefing that took place at Kigali Serena Hotel yesterday.
He added that the political will and the reception given to investors was another factor that attracted them to Rwanda.
“It is amazing that it only took us a day to have our company registered here,” he said, adding, “We went to different countries including Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania for a survey but we chose to start our investment from Rwanda.”
According to Cheung, upon completion, the hotel will be opened to a hotel management company to run it and that they have already bought the land where the hotel and a commercial complex will be built.
The commercial complex that will have a conference centre and a 20-story office building, will be realized in what Cheung said will be the second phase of the project.
He estimated the complex which will be built just next to the hotel to cost between $30 and 40 million.
Cheung added that they are envisaging more investments in Rwanda especially in the manufacturing industry.
“Since we deal mainly in construction, we are looking at possibilities of tapping into this industry especially by manufacturing construction materials that will be supplied throughout the East African region,” he said.
He further said that he was optimistic that many Chinese companies will come to Rwanda in the future, attributing it to the investment atmosphere that is championed by President Paul Kagame.
New Century Development deals in real estate development and manufacturing and they have different investments in Asian countries that include Hong Kong, China, Malaysia and Indonesia.