Youth and Sports minister Bakary Y. Badjie has stated that government institutions “are not good at managing businesses” hence the need to give such ventures to private entities.
The sports minister, who was referring to a state-owned hotel, indicated that his ministry had secured a cabinet approval for the leasing of Friendship Hotel to a private company.
“We looked at all options and we believe leasing would be the best option,” he said. “A study was done to look at the amount of money that would be needed for investment and it was about D32 million. Managers have been changed over the years but the situation remains the same.”
Founded and established in 1983, the hotel has since been managed by government.
Minister Badjie said that over the years “the hotel has been poorly managed and under-utilised” with the government losing close to D2 million due to its revenue and expenditure mismatches.
These and other challenges such as low occupancy informed his decision to present a cabinet paper in February last year for the leasing of the property to a private operator to ensure professional management and improved services, the minister stated, saying a working group comprising his ministry and those of finance, tourism, justice and the management of the Independence Stadium are working on the modalities for the leasing.
Member for Brikama South, Lamin Sanneh, who expressed his disapproval over the intended leasing, asked the minister to explain if he had made any effort to seek an alternative by investing funds to keep the property productive.
Instead, the minister rather gave no indication when the hotel will be let out.
