The State Assets and Participation Management Institute (IGAPE) promoted a session this Wednesday to announce which assets will be auctioned, detailing that there are 39 hotels, from the IU (28), IKA (10) and BINA (1) chains, following a Presidential order dated January, which authorizes the opening of the public tender, in the form of asset disposal.
The hotel units are located in the provinces of Luanda, Cabinda, Cuanza Sul, Cuanza Norte, Benguela, Lunda Norte, Lunda Sul, Huíla, Huambo, Malanje, Uíge, Cunene, Namibe, Moxico and Bié.
Speaking to the press, at the end of the ceremony, the head of IGAPE's privatization department, João Sionguele, said that the prospect is for the launch of the tender to take place during the month of February, after work to determine the base bidding value, which will result from the analysis of the current state of the hotel units and their business expectations.
"It is work that is still ongoing and the base bidding value will be known when the competition is launched, as it will be launched via an electronic auction platform and it is necessary to share this information so that interested parties can have an idea of the expectation in terms of the value defined for these assets", he said.
João Sionguele stressed that in the IU network 13 units are operational and 15 are paralyzed, that is, with closed doors, but with all the equipment installed, stressing that after the competition has been launched, candidates will be able to visit the infrastructures to check the operational status of the same.
"In relation to the IKA, a unit is operating in Luanda, some are paralyzed (3) and others are in an unfinished state (6)", he indicated.
The head of IGAPE said that there are already several expressions of interest, such as from the Pestana de Portugal group and other business groups in the hotel sector, and there is also a great intention from the major players in the national sector.
In turn, the president of the Association of Hotels and Resorts of Angola (AHRA), Ramiro Barreira, highlighted that the association's vision was expressed in this Thursday's session to make this process viable, always "on the basis of transparency", so that businesspeople can effectively access these privatizations.
"It is essential to defend small and medium-sized companies. We need to alienate, but also defend the national business community, because we do not want to sell everything to foreigners (...) what we really want is for these hotels to serve the Angolan economy", said Ramiro Barreira, stressing the need to ensure that they are handed over to entities dedicated to promoting tourism.
According to Ramiro Barreira, the number of operational hotels meets current needs, but with entry into the country open to nationals from more than 90 countries without visas, there is a need for more units.
"Every day we see that there are foreigners entering Angola to visit our country, they no longer need letters of invitation (...) the hotels we have as a whole from the perspective of tourism development are insufficient", he highlighted, also pointing out the need to open new hotels where there are none, for example, Mbanza Congo, a World Heritage Site, which has only one hotel and is closed.
