Top Arusha hotels may go under the hammer over huge bank debts

Dar es Salaam. The curtain could be falling down on the once high-flying Impala Hotel Group of Arusha as two of its hotels are up for sale over huge debts owed to banks.

Invitation for submission of bids to purchase the properties were placed in yesterday’s newspapers at a time the hospitality industry is going through turbulence due to falling business.

Among the properties up for sale is the 300-room luxurious Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge outside Arusha and Impala Hotel, the group’s flagship outfit within the city.

Officials of the hotel chain owned by the late Meleo Mrema, who died in August 2017, could not be reached to speak on the matter.

But a hospitality consultant, who once worked as a general manager of one of the outfits, confirmed that the hotels owned banks billions of shillings.

“It is true they are being auctioned over the accumulated debts for loans taken to build them,” he told The Citizen asking not to be mentioned because he is not authorised to speak.

Dar es Salaam-based Locus Attorneys has been picked to oversee the sale of the properties, which until recently were among the top hospitality establishments in Arusha.

According to an advertisement published yesterday, bidders have up to April 15 so submit their bids, specifying the property they are interested in.

A lawyer of the firm, who also requested anonymity, declined to state how much the Impala Hotel Group owed the bank in unpaid loan.

However, he clarified that the group owed money to NBC Bank and not Exim Bank (T) Limited as inadvertently announced yesterday.

“We will place another advert in newspapers tomorrow (today),” he said,declining to give further details.

Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge and Impala Hotel are among properties left by the late hotel tycoon Mrema.

He died in South Africa in August 2017 and buried within the precincts of Ngurdoto Lodge.

The other major hotel is Naura Spring, a multi-storey edifice which opened its doors in October 2008.

It was constructed reportedly through a $300 million loan from the East African Development Bank (EADB).

The flagship Impala was the first hotel to be put up by the late Mrema who rose from a humble beginning to become a leading indigenous hotel tycoon.

The 160-room Impala, which opened its doors in the early 1990s, was once the leading hotel in Arusha, thanks to closure of the ‘old guard’s for major rehabilitation.

This was to be followed ten years later (in early 2000) by the five star Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge, some 27 kilometres east of Arusha.

The lodge was famous for hosting many high profile international and regional conferences, including at several East African Community (EAC) Heads of Summits.

A hotel classification exercise by the government in July 2017 ranked Ngurdoto as the only five star lodge around Arusha. The other lodges in the same rank were in Serengeti and Ngorongoro.

Another hotel in the Group is Kilimanjaro Impala in Moshi and the tourist class Impala Guest House in Arusha.