Hyatt Hotel to be built in Kabul

Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi · Post by **Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi** » 2004-04-18 12:34am

Karzai Hails New Afghan Hyatt
Sat Apr 17, 9:46 AM ET

KABUL, Afghanistan - Donning a hardhat, President Hamid Karzai helped break ground for a Hyatt Regency hotel in the Afghan capital on Saturday, saying it was a sign of progress in the war-ravaged nation.

The new hotel is being financed by a consortium of Afghan-American and Turkish investors and is expected to take at least 18 months to complete. It will have more than 200 rooms, restaurants and other business facilities.

"The Hyatt will quickly become a focal point for international and Afghan business leaders," said U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, who joined Karzai in pouring the first concrete into the foundation.

The two men pushed a button that started the process by remote control.

Other hotels are also planned in the Afghan capital, which was largely ruined in factional fighting in the early 1990s, before the hardline Taliban regime took control.

Karzai said the hotel offered a great opportunity to talk about new construction, rather than rebuilding.

"In the last two years we have just talked about reconstruction: reconstruction of roads, clinics, hospitals and our country," he said. "Today we are talking about building a hotel, and that is very important for us."

The cost of the construction was not known, though Khalilzad said it was being financed in part through a $40 million loan from the U.S. government.

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2004-04-18 10:36am

If Afghanistan could ever get its act together, it could be a tourist mecca. The scenery is breathtaking and there's thousands of years of history the Taliban didn't manage to blow up.

BoredShirtless · Post by **BoredShirtless** » 2004-04-18 10:46am

CNN recently did a "special" on Afgahanistan. IIRC, the country has only one oxygen machine, donated by a Japanese hospital. Surely that 40 million dollar loan would be better spent on more essential things.

Keevan_Colton · Post by **Keevan_Colton** » 2004-04-18 10:51am

BoredShirtless wrote:CNN recently did a "special" on Afgahanistan. IIRC, the country has only one oxygen machine, donated by a Japanese hospital. Surely that 40 million dollar loan would be better spent on more essential things.

But how would they make money off of that?
There's no profits in medical care!
If people want not to die they should buy health insurance! [/moron]

I agree there are a lot of things that country needs more than a smegging hotel.

TheDarkling · Post by **TheDarkling** » 2004-04-18 11:19am

The idea is to show the area is stable enough for investment, if the government is shown to be in control and new business is seen to be built and operated without constraints or instability then investment will flow into the area and the country will flourish. Building a nice hospital is no going to convince anybody that this is a stable area awaiting investment, so we can either help the Afghans a person at a time or we can jump start their economy and let them do it themselves.

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2004-04-18 03:50pm

I'm still not going there.

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2004-04-18 03:51pm

Ambitious, but I don't think it's likely to succeed. Maybe in thirty years, but not right now.

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2004-04-18 04:18pm

BoredShirtless wrote:CNN recently did a "special" on Afgahanistan. IIRC, the country has only one oxygen machine, donated by a Japanese hospital. Surely that 40 million dollar loan would be better spent on more essential things.

The idea is to bring investment into Afghanistan so the country can get itself into a position where it doesn't need to depend on charity or loans to buy things like oxygen machines. And that construction project means that a lot of Afghans are going to have jobs for however long it takes to finish it, and then jobs for other Afghans who'll be on the hotel staff.

The biggest issue is that Afghanistan probably can't support an enterprise like that right now, so the money that might have been better spent on a number of less ambitious projects.

Vohu Manah · Post by **Vohu Manah** » 2004-04-18 04:35pm

Such as? I mean, Hyatt may lose money on the deal at first, but they could make some of their money back once it's built (especially if foreign troops remain in the country for a while, or the foreign press; the press because they'll likely make use of the hotel immediately, so would families of soldiers brave enough and with the cash to make the trip themselves; Or am I talking out of my ass?). What structures do you see as more valuable than this hotel in demonstrating the stability of the country for the purpose of investment?

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2004-04-18 04:56pm

The hotel won't demonstrate jack or shit if it goes out of business because there aren't enough foreign travelers in Kabul to support it. If there are a bunch of contractors in-country trying to rebuild the place, yeah, they might have use for a Hyatt, but otherwise that money is probably better used as start up money for small industries and businesses. It's a case of putting the cart before the horse: you need a reason for people to go to Kabul before you can build a hotel for them.

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2004-04-18 05:04pm

RedImperator wrote:The idea is to bring investment into Afghanistan so the country can get itself into a position where it doesn't need to depend on charity or loans to buy things like oxygen machines. And that construction project means that a lot of Afghans are going to have jobs for however long it takes to finish it, and then jobs for other Afghans who'll be on the hotel staff.

I can hardly see a bunch of blankets running a hotel.
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