West Africa’s Tallest Hotel : Fashola Unveils Intercontinental Lagos,

Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos
today unveiled the tallest hotel in West
Africa, Intercontinental Lagos, built at a
cost of N30 billion.
The hotel located at Kofo Abayomi Street,
Victoria Island, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria is
a 23-storey building containing 358 rooms
and 37 suites and a Presidential suite.
The Intercontinental Lagos, a subsidiary of
the Intercontinental Hotel Group, IHG, is
owned by the Milan Group.
Unveiling the 5-star hotel, Fashola said the
edifice would surely boost the hospitality
and tourism industry in the state, while
urging other entrepreneurs to look inward
and invest their money in hotels and public
utilities such as roads.
Fashola at the official opening of
Intercontinental Hotel in Lagos
According to him, the unveiling of the hotel
represented the increasing brands of hotels
making Nigeria their choice destinations,
saying that the tourism industry would be
boosted by the new edifice.
“The tourism business is the major sector
that creates jobs but sadly, this sector faces
lots of challenges across the continent. The
Lagos State Government is committed to
providing the enabling environment,” he
said.
Fashola harped on collection of
consumption tax and urged hotels and
other in the hospitality business to help the
government to collect the tax for
developmental purpose.
“Consumption taxes are not levied on
hotels but on consumers. The role of hotel
is to collect the tax and give it to us. It is by
collecting this taxes that you empower us
to provide schools, public utilities and
others,” he stated.
Chairman, Milan Group, Ramesh Valechha
said the hotel would change the landscape
of Lagos and boost the hospitality industry
in the state.
He disclosed that Memorandum of
Understanding for the project was signed
on 31 March, 2004 while it took two years
to complete the design work before the
conceptualisation of the project began.
He stated that the Lagos State Government,
Skye Bank and Wema Bank were supportive
of the project.
Valechha disclosed the building of the hotel
cost over N30 billion while 650 jobs were
created for Nigerians.
Regional General Manager, IHG, Africa, Karl
Hala said the hotel is the leading hotel in
Nigeria, saying the group had 170
Intercontinental Hotels in 60 countries of
the world.
He described the unveiling of the hotel in
Lagos as a significant milestone in the
hospitality industry, adding that the group
also had 20 Intercontinental Hotels in
Africa and that the hotel was the only 5-star
hotel in Nigeria.
Chief Executive Officer, Design Group, Bayo
Odunlami said it took lots of challenging
moment in the design and
conceptualization of the project, saying he
was happy that the group overcame the
hurdles.



Pictures coming up in a short while

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