The scope of works entails the construction of a five-star, 224-room hotel, with separate conference and commercial facilities on a site covering 45,000 square metres. Work is expected to be completed by 2004.

The project, located on the confluence of the Blue Nile and White Nile, opposite En Nil Avenue, attracted the interest of 18 local and international contractors. They included Athens-based Consolidated Contractors International Company (CCC), Sweden's Skanska, South Africa's Grinaker Construction Internationaland Saudi Binladin Group. The client is the Libyan Arab Foreign Investment Company (Lafico).

Lafico, which has a 47 per cent stake in Corinthia, owns a network of hotel properties throughout the Middle East and Europe. Corinthia has real estate assets of up to $500 million, of which one-third are based in the region. Last year, it achieved a turnover of $120 million from its core business activities: hotel management and operation; construction and project management; and industrial catering (MEED 8:6:01, Tourism).

The company expects to complete in April structural work on a $125 million property in Tripoli. The five-star, 300-room hotel with business centre and 6,000-square-metre shopping mall is expected to be opened in August (MEED 13:4:01, Cover Story).