SWAZILAND TO SPEND E1.5bn (US$125m) TO BUILD A HOTEL

Swaziland government to build a hotel that will host the Africa Union Summit in 2020.

The building of the hotel has been put in Swaziland budget for the year. The cost of constructing the hotel will be worth E1.5bn (US$125m) with the aim for it to host an event. The event which will be the African Union summit in 2020 that will last for eight days.

During the announcing of the country budget, it was discover that the hotel and conference construction fund is higher than most ministry budget. The fund is higher than the Ministry of Agriculture (E1.4bn) or the Ministry of Defence (E1.15bn). It is the biggest single capital project in Swaziland’s budget this year.

King Mswati III who rules the Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch is supporting the project. The monarch believes that it will add prestige to the kingdom and will make it a First World nation by 2022. He also has an airport name after him.

Finance Minister, Martin Dlamini said ”Value Added Tax (VAT) would be increase from 1 percent to 15 percent. He said that it will allow review and taxation of electricity for the first time. He highlight that the government will only spend on ‘the most critical expenditure items’ this year.”

For more information, go through the following article on GambetaNews.