By Tabora Bojang
Sports minister Bakary Badjie has disclosed that his ministry has secured a cabinet approval for the leasing of Friendship Hotel to a private company.
The hotel was opened in 1983 and has since been managed by government.
He said 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.
He said 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.
Minister Badjie added that 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.
Badjie replied: “We looked at all options and we believe leasing would be the best option. A study was done to look at the amount of money that would be needed for investment and it was about D32 million. Government institutions are not good at managing businesses and hence the need to give it to a private entity to keep the hotel vibrant. Managers have been changed over the years but the situation remained the same.”
Minister Badjie has not given an indication of when the hotel will be let out.
