TOURISM and Hospitality Industry deputy minister Walter Kanhanga has said the multi-million Hilton Hotel and office complex planned in Harare had failed to take off and was now open to any other investor.
BY VENERANDA LANGA SENIOR PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER
Kanhanga told the Senate last week that it was now open to any other investor after the previous one, former United States Congressman Mel Reynolds was arrested for paedophile and pornography crimes.
He was deported from Zimbabwe recently.
The deputy minister was responding to a question by Manicaland MDC-T senator Patrick Chitaka during the question and answer session in the Upper House.
Hilton International has more than 540 hotels and resorts in 78 countries across six continents.
Chitaka wanted the minister to explain the issues surrounding the building of Hilton Hotel near Chapman Golf Course in Harare.
“There was an investor who was purporting to be representing Hilton International and apparently this gentleman has been caught up in very nasty instances where he was been arrested at Bronte Hotel with some pornographic material and for paedophile crimes,” said Kanhanga. “This former congressman was actually jailed for some time and when he came to Zimbabwe, he purported to be representing Hilton, which unfortunately was not the case.”
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He added: “So the project is still outstanding and it is open to anyone who would want to invest.”
According to media reports Reynolds had come to Zimbabwe promising to attract investment worth $145 million for the construction of Hilton Hotel and office complex in Harare.
Construction was supposed to begin in April and get completed by 2016.
Reynolds lost his seat in Congress in 1995 because of a statutory rape conviction where he was convicted for having sex with an underage former campaign worker and then trying to thwart the investigation.
While in prison, he was also convicted of bank and campaign fraud for concealing debts to obtain bank loans and diverting money intended for voter registration drives into his election campaign.
