Tripoli Prime Minister, Abd Alhamid Aldabaiba, inaugurated the rebranded Marriot Hotel as the ‘‘Al-Hayat Tower’’ last Saturday (29 November). The hotel will be operated by the Lebanese Lancaster Hotels Group.
The reopening, the Tripoli government said, follows the completion of its comprehensive rehabilitation works, to return it to service with a capacity of 370 hotel rooms, a modern business centre and an integrated complex of conference and event halls.
It said this comes as part of the government’s plan to revive stalled projects within the framework of the ‘‘Return to Life Initiative’’.
It is noteworthy that the project had reached high completion rates before it was stopped for 14 years, only to be recompleted and fully operational during the recent period.
The opening of the tower comes as part of the Tripoli government’s efforts to revitalize the tourism and business sectors and enhance the infrastructure that supports economic growth in the capital.
The works included upgrading technical systems, raising the efficiency of services, and developing facilities for receiving delegations and visitors, the government said.
It will be recalled that the Libyan state real estate development company, Oyia (part of the Economic and Social Development Fund – ESDF), had formed a JV with the construction arm of South Korea’s Daewoo Group (now Daewoo Engineering & Construction or Daewoo E&C) in 2009 to build the hotel tower. It was later branded a JW Marriot hotel. However, Libya’s 2011 revolution meant the Marriot never fully operated.
The Aldabaiba Tripoli government refers to it as the Al-Hayat Tower (Life Tower / Tower of Life).
