President John Agyekum Kufuor on Saturday inaugurated the 21.2 million-dollar refurbished Golden Tulip Kumasi City, formerly the City Hotel, one of the nation’s foremost prized assets in the hospitality industry.With this, Kumasi, which is one of the venues for the “Ghana CAN 2008” Tournament is now ready to play host to its expected share of match officials, national teams and large army of soccer fans. The facility has 160 guestrooms; an a la carte restaurant; a lobby bar; swimming pool; health club facilities; conference and meeting rooms with total seating capacity of 500 people. The Ghana Libyan Arab Holding Company (GLAHCO), an investment company established in the early 1980 by the Government of Ghana and the Peoples Socialist Libyan Arab Jamahiriya under a bilateral and investment agreement, owns it. Inaugurating it, President Kufuor said the Government was determined to buy back some of the state-owned hotels sold out under questionable conditions and sale terms. He said they were resolved to “salvage these national monuments, which must not be allowed to decay further and get ruined completely”. He noted that despite the recent additions, the number of hotels, especially those in the star-rated category fell far below the national requirement given the country’s growing investment and business attraction. President Kufuor said it was in the light of this that the re-birth of the City Hotel, was so much appreciated. He used the occasion to draw attention to the need for hotel operators, no matter the level of star ranking of their facilities, to operate under clean environment and to provide quality service. Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Finance Minister and Chairman of the GLAHCO, said the facility was a manifestation of the confidence the country’s partners continued to have in the Ghanaian economy and especially in the rapidly improving business environment. “The progress made towards this objective also fulfils the aspiration of the leaders of the two Sovereign States, Ghana and Libya, towards mutual co-operation.” He said it should not be lost on anyone that a well functioning and internationally star-rated hotel would enhance the reputation of Kumasi and contribute significantly to its economy. He announced plans to rehabilitate Golden Tulip Accra to bring it to modern standards and said this would start in May, 2008 and was expected to be completed in six months. Mr Stephen Asamoah-Boateng, Minister of Tourism and Diasporan Relations, asked the workers of the Hotel, to ensure that service delivery was up to standard; avoid pilfering and to see themselves as part of the ownership. Mr Abdulhamid Karmus, Managing Director of the GLAHCO, said the opening of the Hotel was yet another success story of the joint co-operation for economic development between Ghana and Libya. The Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Emmanuel Asamoah Owusu-Ansah, challenged the Management of the facility to create the necessary environment and avenues for the promotion of domestic tourism, conference tourism and to help to project the rich Ashanti culture.Source: GNA