Haile Gebreselassie, the prominent athlete and businessman, calls the government to compensate the damages that destroyed his Hotel in Shashemene after the instability following the killing of the singer Hachalu Hundessa.
He made the statement while inaugurating its seventh chain of Haile Hotels and Resorts Group at Adama, 80km southeast of Addis Ababa.
At the press conference held during a media visit at the new five star hotel at Adama, Haile, a double Olympic Gold Medalist, said that the responsibility to cover the damage at Shashemene is the government.
“We invested in the country because we thought there is rule of law in the country due to that the government is responsible to the damages that occurred last June,” he said.
According to the Haile Hospitality Group that has more than 1,500 employees, the investment destroyed at Shashemene and Batu is about 295 million birr.
“Such kinds of damages are mostly covered by the government, which we don’t prefer but we don’t have any option,” he said.
“There is no such kind of insurance coverage and I will not get any insurance in the future for such kind of distraction. It is the responsibility of the government to keep the safety of lives and properties,” he added.
He said that currently his company is working to revamp the Batu Hotel to return back to operation, while the Shashemene facility that was vandalized and destroyed could not become functional easily.
Haile Hotels and Resorts Group starts the hospitality business a decade ago when it opened a hotel in the lake side of Hawassa town and now it operates seven facilities and three more will join in the near future. Recently it has also announced that it will invest one billion birr at Gorgora, the northern coast of Lake Tana, to add more chain.
The facility that was opened a few weeks ago at Adama consumed 400 million birr and lies on 1.2 hectare. The new hotel creates 300 jobs and has 110 guest rooms, 2 bars, 2 restaurants, swimming pool, fitness center, spa, seven conference rooms and children play ground.
