(Business in Cameroon) - The Turkish company Yenigün, who is building a 50,000-seat stadium in Japoma, in the suburbs of Douala, the Cameroonian economic capital, will launch in 2017 the construction of a five-star hotel in the Bonapriso neighbourhood. The I formation was revealed by the Turkish ambassador in Cameroon on 16 December 2016, on the fringes of the commissioning of the Medcem cement factory in Cameroon.

This hotel project is sponsored by Société Nouvelle de Développement et d’Investissement (SNDI), led by the Cameroonian businessman Ekoko Mukete, Vice-President of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Arts of Cameroon (CIMA), who is also Honorary Consul of Turkey in Cameroon.

Mr Mukete even specified that the land for this project has already been prepared and only awaits the start of the works. The first five-star hotel in the economic capital of Cameroon will have 200 rooms. It will cost USD 70 million, approximately FCfa 45 billion.

The hotel under development will be operated under the Hyatt Regency brand, flagship product of the American group Hyatt Hotels Corporation. As at 1 January 2016, this group was among the top 15 list of most important hotels worldwide, with 640 hotels representing a total capacity of 179,217 rooms, including 162 locations and 75,122 rooms for Hyatt Regency only.

Through this project, Hyatt Hotels will join its compatriot Hilton (who manages the only 5-star hotel in the country after Hotel Mont Fébé lost a star) on a Cameroonian market dominated by the French group Accor, particularly with its brands Ibis and Pullmann.

Remember, in 2007, SNDI had already bought a plot to build a five-star hotel in Douala, in the Bonanjo area this time. But, the hotel, which was meant to be operated under the Marriott brand, never came forth. Officially due to a lengthy procedure of change on the land title pf the site meant to host the hotel.

Brice R. Mbodiam