Governor Ugwuanyi of Enugu State

Enugu State Government has undertaken to resuscitate the moribund Hotel Presidential contrary to earlier arrangements that enlisted the enterprise for commercialization.

The State Executive Council has, therefore, directed that clearing work should start immediately at the complex covered by weeds.

Addressing newsmen on Thursday on the outcome of the State Executive Council meeting, the Commissioner for Information, Dr. Godwin Udeuhele, said the move would boost hospitality in the state.

Udeuhele said that the property which was leased to Status Symbol for 35 years on Nov. 8, 2011, had been a subject of litigation between two parties claiming to be the authentic managers.

The commissioner claimed that since the state government leased the property, it had never remained the same in terms of functionality.

“This property was leased for 35 years to Status Symbol. After sometime, the same government gave the same property out to another company known as E-Hospitality.

“The hotel has 100 suites with a swimming pool and adequate parking space. Majority of outstanding events used to take place there but once government interfered, it started dwindling.”

Udeuhele said that efforts by the current administration to commercial the enterprise had not yielded the desired results due to ongoing litigation between two contending parties.

“This is barely one year we had the investment summit where we pre-qualified the enterprise but due to the litigations, nobody entered into it.

“So, we had to think out of the box to own our property before we talk of people that will manage it.”

He said that the commissioner for tourism had submitted a memo to the council encouraging it to take the hotel back so as to rehabilitate it.

“After due deliberation, the council decided to take up its property and mandated that immediate clearing begins with a view to putting the hotel in its normal shape.

“The council also approved that all parties that had expressed interest in the management of the hotel should be engaged with, to mutually resolve outstanding issues,” Udeuhele said.

(NAN)