Kempinski Hotel Project in Brazzavile

Kempinski Hotel Brazzaville

The Kempinski Hotel Project is a 5-Star hotel being developed on a total area of 38,000 square meters along Amilcar Cabral Avenue in Brazzaville, the capital city of the Republic of the Congo, in central Africa.

The project encompasses 225 elegant guestrooms and suites with warm contemporary interiors and floor-to-ceiling glass doors opening out onto overhanging balconies that provide stunning views of the Congo River. Overall, the layout of this building is specifically meant to maximize the full waterfront experience. The lower podium, which houses leisure facilities such as a health club with a gym, a spa, outdoor swimming pools, and tennis courts, overlooks the marina as well as the hotel’s main building. The hotel’s food and beverage outlets and kids club are set on the riverfront surrounded by beautifully landscaped gardens with simple compact geometry that fully utilizes the floor area and enables adaptive expansion. The structure personifies just the right balance of vertical and horizontal elements that break any potential monotony.

A casino and nightclub are also a part of the development along with staff accommodation and other amenities. The Kempinski Hotel Project in Brazzaville is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2022.

Project Team

The project is developed by OREG Real Estate Group with the help of Dewan Architects + Engineers (Dewan), UAE as the project’s main architect, and HCC as the main contractor.

Also Locke Carey-a fire safety consultancy firm is part of the project team as well as B&A, and Intercon– interior architecture and design firm-designing the plush interiors for the project.

YOUR PARTNER, WHATEVER THE SITUATION

We had hoped to write to you in a period where the market was coming back to normality. We know that the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic will not stop any time soon, and we will continue to feel the effects well into the future. Yet the market has other ideas, as prices continue to remain astronomically high, with no immediate sign of reducing either in the long or short products market. What is really causing raw material prices to continue to remain steady at such elevated levels? Surely prices should come down because prices in our local market are so high. We thought so too but have continued to see otherwise. Explaining this market and its pricing is simple when you think about the following:

1.The freight rates remain at almost double of what they were exactly one year ago. For example, shipments from the Black Sea (Russia/Ukraine) to Kenya used to cost around $45-50 per MT, but quotes have been seen stable at $90 per MT, with some shipping lines quoting as high as $120 per MT.

2.Countries are increasingly coming under scrutiny to continue to cut their carbon emissions and footprint. In our last write up, we mentioned that China has removed a 13% export rebate on steel products around the wall. Following the trend, China have now decided to impose an export tax on steel products from 1st September 2021, ensuring that the current price in the market remains high. Other countries then benchmark their own prices against what China decides to do.

3.Whilst African countries see a decreasing demand for raw material at these price levels, Europe and the US continue to pose very strong demand. This means that most of the markets that traditionally do spare tonnage for the African market are diverting more vessels to the higher prices and greater demand that is achieved within Europe/USA. This pressure further forces the African continent to struggle to maintain demand at these price levels.

4.A continually high exchange rate – a past point, but the exchange hovering at KES 108.3 / USD vs a year ago, when the rate was around KES 103 / USD is another pressure on the local market and increased costing. Imports have become more expensive from exchange rate changes, and this cost has then added to the already difficult costing manufacturers have to contend with.

As was the case last month, we still believe that you should position yourselves with steel purchase for whatever purpose; we believe that the costs will continue to rise with each passing month. We have noticed a lot of projects trying to forward book their project materials to save costs, and we believe this to be a smarter idea, especially with raw material shortages we see in the coming months ahead.

Accurate Steel Mills continues to remain at your service, whatever the market situation. We are proud to announce that we are providing FREE MEDICAL GRADE OXYGEN to hospitals within the country, as approved by KEBS from our internal facilities. All we require is requisition orders and serial numbers of cylinders, drop off and pick up of the cylinders once they are filled.

We will continue to support the economy and do our part, whilst you do yours and stay safe during this time!

Avraj Bhachu