Accra racecourse demolished.

27 Jul, 2008

Bulldozers have razed Accra racecourse near the international conference centre to make way for a luxury hotel, local news sources report. The dawn operation left several people living in the area without shelter and horses without stables pending the completion of a new racing facility at Ashaley Botwe in the city suburbs.

The former racecourse will be replaced by a $49.4 million five-star hotel managed by the Germany-based Kempinski Hotels. The project will be financed by the Africa Development Bank, the ABSA Bank of South Africa and the Ghanaian government and is expected to create around 700 jobs.

Founded at the end of the 19th century, Kempinski Hotels has dozens of hotels all over the world, including currently five in Africa.