Serena starts refurbishment works

The former Nile Hotel International and Conference Centre Kampala celebrated 10 years of existence recently at its Kampala home.

The event that saw the establishment celebrate a decade since a major refurbishment to become Serena Hotel was marked by signing of a binary partnership between Serena and PROPARCO, a development finance institution.

Serena Hotels that is planning a facility extension, will receive a $8m loan from PROPARCO to help in the smooth construction of the new hotel facilities.

The new look of the hotel will have a partial refurbishment and alteration of the meeting rooms. It will include creation of an executive lounge and additional smaller meeting rooms.

The Pearl of Africa restaurant facilities will be upgraded as well; including constructing of 36 additional guest rooms and a new state suite.

The last time Serena experienced a major transformation was in 2004 at a cost it cost of over $30.5m, and it took about 18 months to complete.

The loan that was used to complete the first works was extended to Serena by PROPARCO.

According to Mahmid Jan Mohamed, Managing Director of Serena Hotels they have already paid off the first loan.

He also said that the extension works that started on March, 1^st, 2016 are expected to be completed in phases, with 36 guest rooms due to be complete in 12 months.

The new facilities are expected to create about 50 more job opportunities for Ugandans.