Five-star hotel planned for Baghdad (Green Zone)

[rainbow4321]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IRAQ_HOTEL_PLAN?SITE=TXDAM&TEMPLATE=IRAQHEADS.html&SECTION=HOME

Iraqi officials say they have approved plans to build a five-star hotel in the Baghdad's heavily guarded Green Zone.

Iraq's National Investment Commission says land for the project is being leased by the Summit Global Group, a U.S.-based investment company.

Robert Kelley, head of Summit Global, says the 300-room hotel will cost $100 million. He says American and Iraqi investors are involved in the project, but he did not name them.

At a groundbreaking ceremony on Saturday, Kelley said construction would begin soon, but he did not specify a date.
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:eyes:

And who exactly benefits from this $100 million investment?? Probably what they will push is "local jobs". And why not share the names of the "American and Iraqi investors"?

[enid602]

1. contract

Hope they don't contract the electrical out to Americans.

[Solly Mack]

2. Should be a blast

[Chipper Chat]

4. Take it from the King David experience....

guests should sleep with their shoes ready for action.

[Canuckistanian]

3. I'm sure it will be a target after the uprising

After the Iraqis finally oust the puppet government, privatize the oilfields and ban outside investment.

It WILL happen sometime in the future.

[Marrah_G]

5. They better build it in an underground bunker.

[rainbow4321]

7. Heh....with an underground tunnel leading to the planned amusement park

WTF? We can't even keep hospitals and homes safe and these fools are building hotels and amusement parks?

Found this:

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/05/planners-dream.html


Karnowski said a deal already has been completed for Marriott International Inc. to build a hotel in the Green Zone. He also said a possible $1 billion investment could come from MBI International, a conglomerate that focuses on hotels and resorts and is led by Saudi Sheikh Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber.

Elizabeth Caminiti, a Marriott spokeswoman, declined to comment. Phone calls and e-mails sent to London-based MBI were not returned.

Land that a few years ago was going for $60 a square meter on 50-year leases in the zone is now going for up to $1,000 a square meter, American officials say.

Last week, a Los Angeles-based holding company for equity firms, C3, confirmed it was starting a $500 million project to build an amusement park on the outskirts of the Green Zone in an area encompassing the Baghdad Zoo. The first phase, a skateboard park, is scheduled to open this summer.

[Marrah_G]

9. skateboard park??? in Iraq??

does.not.compute.

[MilesColtrane]

10. All they have to do is pave those bomb craters for some radical riding.

[TheCowsCameHome]

6. Will Blackwater get the airport taxi contract?

[emilyg]

8. Is it too early to

make reservations?

[shadowknows69]

11. While half the country lives in squalor

This is wrong on so many levels. We've created a worse class structure than Saddam ever dreamed of. Peasants live outside the Emerald City hoping for scraps from their overlords.

[MilesColtrane]

12. What'll they name it?

The Shi'aton
Shitz-Carlton
Travailodge
The Baghdad Killton
Ramadan Inn
Dubyatree
Club Dead
The Booby Trapped Rodeway Inn
The Scare-aton
The Blood Roof Inn