NEW HOTEL AND OFFICE PROJECT TO OPEN IN NOVEMBER

A new hotel and office development, known as the Rani Towers, will open for business in Maputo in November, according to the managing director of the Dubai-based Rani Investment, Salim Bitar.It cost 206 million US dollars to build the Rani Towers, and the adjacent, already functioning Radisson Blu Hotel, all located on the Maputo coast road. The project is the fruit of cooperation between Rani Investment and the Minor Hotel Group, which is headquartered in Bangkok.Presenting the project to reporters on Tuesday, Bitar said that one of the towers has 21 floors reserved for apartments, while the other has 17 floors of office space. The office space covers 22,000 square metres. There are 181 fully furnished apartments. 177 of them will be managed by the Radisson group (which is also part of Rani Investment). The other apartments will be leased out, and a company has been hired to lease them to anyone interested.

The facilities include two swimming pools, a shopping area, a conference hall with space for over 450 participants, a gymnasium, lounges and restaurants,.Asked how much it would cost to lease or rent one of the apartments or offices, Bitar declined to give a figure, but said the prices would be “competitive”, taking into account the reality of the Mozambican real estate market and hotel industry.“Rani Towers is an undertaking that combines iconic architecture and unparalleled construction quality, with high standards of health and safety, interior design and maintenance services”, Bitar said. “The Towers are a response to the new demand for high quality leisure, business and housing facilities in Maputo”. He was sure they would help position Mozambique as a desirable destination among the world’s largest tourist markers.He pledged that the towers will not suffer from the power cuts or interruptions to water supply that sometimes hit Maputo. Instead the owners of this undertaking are ensuring that there will be uninterrupted supplies of electricity and drinking water.Bitar insisted that the Towers have an environmental management plan, and will not simply dump their waste water in the nearby Indian Ocean. Instead, all water will be treated and re-used. Rani has been operating in Mozambique for 15 years, and its other properties include the Pemba Beach Hotel in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, and luxury island hotels in the Bazaruto and Quirimbas archipelagos.