Nakheel Hotels & Resorts, part of Dubai World has today completed and opened the first-ever five-star hotel development in Djibouti, East Africa, after a record design-build period of only nine months. The hotel will now host the prestigious COMESA Heads of State Summit, which runs until the 16 November.
The Djibouti Palace Kempinski, managed by Europe’s oldest luxury hotel group Kempinski Hotels, has been designed using a unique fusion of Swahili and Arabic architectural themes. It has 177 rooms and suites, a state-of-the-art conference centre, a grand ballroom for up to 1,100 guests, meeting rooms and presentation facilities, and the latest communications infrastructure.
It is being used to host a series of meetings for the COMESA (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa) Summit attended by leading politicians and Heads of State from around the world. Kempinski has hired and trained 150 local Djiboutian employees and has brought in a task force of over 100 experts from around the world to service the COMESA delegates.
Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Nakheel Executive Chairman, said: “Djibouti will be showcased to Africa and the world during the COMESA Heads of State. We are proud to have created such a fantastic venue for this prestigious international event.
“Many companies would have worried about the challenge of a nine-month design-build time for a five-star luxury resort, especially with the incredibly high quality standards set by Kempinski. But Nakheel Hotels & Resorts with our partner, the Taisei Corporation of Japan, we have been able to meet that challenge.
“I have no doubt that the Djibouti Palace Kempinski will become one of Africa’s premier resorts. It will provide a real boost to the profile – and indeed the economy – of Djibouti.”
When all phases of the hotel are complete, the Djibouti Palace Kempinski will have more than 400 rooms and will feature luxury resort facilities including a beach club and retail arcade, fitness and entertainment centres, a state-of-the-art spa and a safari sports bar. There will be four a la carte restaurants, including a pan-African restaurant - the first of its kind in the world.
Further phases of the wider development will see a range of residential villas and apartments, commercial offices and retail units.
Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Nakheel Executive Chairman, said: “The Emirate of Dubai and the Republic of Djibouti have built a special relationship since we started working together on Djibouti’s port project in 1998. I am delighted that, together with Kempinski, Nakheel Hotels and Resorts is now bringing the first five-star hotel to the country.”
James Wilson, chief executive of Nakheel Hotels & Resorts, said: “To get from ground-breaking in February this year to first guest check-in in only nine months is quite an achievement.
“But we are particularly pleased given the conditions we faced. Almost everything had to be brought in from outside the country. “This project is an important milestone in Nakheel Hotels & Resorts’ development as a world class organisation, with a diverse portfolio of products across the globe.
Over the last nine months, hundreds of containers were shipped in to the site in an enormous logistics effort, through the port developed originally by Nakheel Hotels & Resorts’ sister company, DP World. Ninety-seven per cent of all the construction materials and hotel furnishings were imported in this way – including a last-minute shipment of luxury furnishings that was flown from Dubai by a 747 cargo plane from the Emiri flight.
Nakheel Hotels & Resorts is also working on other developments in Djibouti, including a mountain-top spa and island resorts.
© 2006 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
