www.all Africa.com When  Nile Serena Hotel reopens next February as the Kampala Serena Hotel, it will be "a facility that Uganda has not yet had."

This is according to Mr Killian Lugwe, the General Manager, who oversees the renovation and upgrading of the facility to five-star status.

"Nile Serena Hotel is a complete redo. It will be the leading five-star deluxe hotel in Uganda. I am seeing this extended to East Africa. It will be the leading five-star deluxe hotel in East Africa," Lugwe said.

The project, which, commenced on February 15 reaches completion by the end of February 2006, at a total cost of $26m (about Shs46.8b).

In January 2004, the Serena Group acquired the Nile Hotel complex - comprising a bedroom block and an international conference centre with a seating capacity of 3,000 - from the government on a 30-year concession and closed it at the end of the year for a full upgrade.

Nile Serena Hotel -formally Nile Hotel - is now a member of the Serena Hotels East Africa, the region's leading hotel group, whose principal shareholder is the Swiss-registered Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED).

AKFED, which operates in 15 developing countries in Asia and Africa, including Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and controls assets in excess of $1b (Shs1.8 trillion), is involved in building economically viable enterprises through a strong combination of equity participation and management expertise. Its focus is on industry, tourism and financial services.

This hotel group, prior to entering the Ugandan market, already had 14 high class hotels, luxurious resorts and safari lodges - seven in Kenya, five in Tanzania mainland, one in Zanzibar and one in Mozambique.

According to Lugwe the company is already starting discussions with the Uganda government to explore possibilities of developing new properties in the country's tourist circuit, especially in the areas of Bwindi impenetrable forest with its world renowned gorilla habitat, the Queen Elizabeth National Park and Murchison Falls National Park.

Serena's interest in tapping the full potential of those areas comes at a time when the tourist trade is markedly picking up in Uganda after staying down for more than two decades from 1971 to the 1990s.

According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), some 192,754 visitors entered Uganda in 2000 and spent about $151 million. Last year, Uganda recorded a total of 350,000 tourists with a corresponding expenditure of $271 million, states UBOS.

In the meantime, much of the Phase I reconstruction work at Nile Hotel involves re-doing the bedroom block, which has been completely stripped to its skeleton. Only the old shell of the block has been retained but all of its interior space is undergoing reconfiguration, a floor has been added (there used to be five floors) and balconies are being extended.

Rooms are being reconfigured from the previous 85 to 149. These include 120 standard rooms, 17 superior rooms, 11 business suites and one presidential suite.

"Back of house" areas, which include staff facilities, kitchens, stores and offices, are also being completely redone. A new wing is coming up next to the bedroom block to house two restaurants, a bar and guest bedrooms. A separate new block will have what Lugwe, describes as "the only world class health club and fitness centre in Kampala."

Lugwe said most of the top and mid-level managers, who initially will run the Kampala Serena Hotel, are currently getting their training outside the country. New buildings planned for Phase II of the project, including a six-floor bedroom block, will follow after the hotel reopens for business early next year.

Serena unsuccessfully bid for long-term management of Nile Hotel in 1993. When it did succeed last year, the Group's Managing Director, Mr Mahmood Janmohamed, told journalists in Kampala that, "We have been constantly chasing this hotel. Now it is a dream come true."