Malawi’s Minister of Tourism, Wildlife and Culture, Dr Michael Usi has asked all hotel and lodge owners in the country to consider reducing their charges claiming they prohibit people from accessing hotel and lodge services.
Dr Usi was speaking this on Tuesday at a ground breaking ceremony of a multi-billion-dollar project where a Crossroads Business Complex is expected to be constructed at Mandala in Blantyre opposite Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KuHes) formerly College of Medicine (COM).
He said it is very worrisome that people in the country fail to go to hotels and lodges in fear of exorbitant prices of services being offered.
“Many Malawians do not patronize these hotels because of what we can say prohibitive charge of costs. So, am appealing to hotel and lodge owners to consider the pricing so that Malawians that don’t have big pockets should be able to patronize those facilities,” said Usi.
The project is under ZST Investment Limited which is a mother company for Crossroads Hotel Chain and the chairperson Haroon Sacranie said the facility will encompass a five-star hotel with 96 bedrooms, an international conference centre, a double storey shopping complex, a 250 cars parking bay and a fueling station.
He said ZST Investment wants to follow the Malawi’s 2063 agenda of turning the country’s cities into world-class cities hence the two-year project which he said will cost his company 25 million United States dollars which is approximately MWK21 billion.
The Chairperson further added that the project is as well a sign of their company’s commitment in joining the Malawi government in creating more jobs for the youths.
“ZST Investment Limited we have been in business for over 40 years here in Malawi and in the last 20 years, we have done two major investment projects, thus Crossroads Hotel in Lilongwe and another in Blantyre and this is our third major project in Blantyre again.
“It’s a very big project where 25 Million US dollars will be spent. We have the 2063 agenda and one main pillar is urbanization where our cities have to be transformed into world-class cities. This will also reduce unemployment levels as a good number of Malawians are to be employed upon completion,” said Sacranie.
It is believed that the facility will give the city a new look and in the process be a tourism zone as the complex will attract more tourists
