President Peter Mutahrika unveils a plague to officially open Umodzi Park in Lilongwe on Friday
Malawi President Peter Mutharika today opened the much-awaited President’s Hotel located within Umodzi Park which also houses Bingu International Conference Centre (Bicc) and the Presidential Village in Lilongwe.
The facility, which has been christened President Walmont Hotel, is Malawi’s first five-star hotel and was constructed during the reign of former president the late Bingu Wa Mutharika.
The hotel comprises 130 rooms and suites; with 60 classic rooms, 60 classic twin rooms, a special assistance room and 10 presidential suites.
Other facilities of the Bicc include the Lilongwe Auditorium, which seats 1 500 delegates and has five conference rooms.
Speaking during the official opening ceremony yesterday, President Mutharika described the hotel as a beacon of the country’s hospitality industry.
“I would like to encourage the private sector to seriously invest in the tourism sector. On our part, as government, we are upgrading the road network, airport infrastructure as well as computerisation of the border posts to improve access and facilitate smooth movement of tourists,” he said.
Mutharika then called upon Peermont Proprietary—a South African-based hospitality company which will be running the facility—to manage the hotel to international standards.
Construction of the hotel, which was financed by a K95 billion loan from Chinese investment Bank and K1 billion from the Malawi Government, commenced in December 2009. The facility was handed over to government in June 2012.
Umodzi Holdings Limited, a public company is overseeing the operations of the hotel.
