Government teams up with Tycoon Sudhir to build world class convention centre ahead of NAM 2023

In 2007, Uganda’s government pulled off one of the most successful international events when the Pearl of Africa was the destination for over 50 heads of states who attended the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

Queen Elizabeth II was in Uganda to preside over the CHOGM as the head of the Commonwealth while in the company of her husband Prince Phillip and current King of England, Charles III.  This even contributed a fortune to the tourism industry of the country.

The heat for CHOGM descended on Kigali when Rwanda hosted the event in 2022 which was also another telling success by an African country.

Expected to host over 120 heads of states, Uganda is again in the thick of things as preparations are in high gear to organize the Non Aligned Movement (NAM) in January next year.

Like in 2007 Uganda’s property mogul Dr Sudhir Ruparelia has a responsibility of putting up facilities of world class standards to host one of the biggest annual high level events on the globe.

NAM is a forum that is not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc and it is the largest grouping of states worldwide after the United Nations (UN).  Approximately, two-thirds of the United Nations’ members are represented at the Non-Aligned Movement, and they comprise 55% of the world’s population.

In addition to the Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort and Conference Centre, Dr Sudhir has works going on at Munyonyo on the cool breezing shores of Lake Victoria to put up a convention centre where NAM will be hosted. 

On Tuesday, Sudhir’s Ruperalia Group who are developing the project released a statement about the progress of the works on the multibillion Shillings convention centre that has to be ready in time for the NAM conference.

The group said that the construction of one-of-a-kind 4400-seater Speke Resort Convention Centre is on schedule and will be completed in time for the 9th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). The project of the convention centre is being undertaken jointly with the Uganda Development Corporation (UDC).

Ruparelia Group, through its two subsidiaries, Speke Hotels and Meera Investments, is sparing no effort to ensure that we deliver this key strategic national facility on time” Stated Dr Sudhir.

Shortly before release of the statement, the project team gave a guided tour of the site to Kampala based journalists to appreciate the works so far done. In addition to the 4400-seater auditoriums, the convention centre will also have a multipurpose hall, 12 high-end conference/breakaway meetings rooms and a floating restaurant that can host more than a view of Africa’s largest freshwater lake, Lake Victoria.

According to Dr Sudhir, the location of the convention centre will treat the delegates to a special environment which will make them like Uganda the most.

“Being adjacent to Lake Victoria is one of the unique attractions of this facility. It is an asset that we guard jealously” he said while referring to the works going to protect the facility from rising waters in the future.

He added that: “ahead of the August-December rainy season, we are only upgrading and securing (against flooding) of our grounds that were affected by the May 2022 unprecedented rise in water levels of Lake Victoria”

Govt support

Government through a supplementary budget that was approved by Parliament, provided Shs86.4b to fund the construction of the convention centre to make the country set for NAM and future events including the South Summit of the G77 and China.

President Yoweri Museveni who is going to take over from President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbajan as the next Chairman of NAM and his leadership will last up to 2026.

NAM, whose nature is not subject to any of the world superpowers, will according to Museveni be a good platform for the member nations to discuss issues of business and trade.

“It will be very easy for us to talk about business and trade with them (delegates). When we held the Commonwealth meeting, our tourist arrivals rose since then when the world heard that Africa had hosted the Commonwealth successfully” the President said in March, 2023.

The President also said that Uganda was selected to host NAM because of the country’s independent position in the world. Uganda has not taken sides in the deepening war between Russia and Ukraine but instead participated in the recent efforts by African leaders’ trip to Moscow and Kiev to encourage peace talks.

About NAM

Drawing on the principles agreed at the Bandung Conference in 1955, the NAM was established in 1961 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia through the initiative of President of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito, President of Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser, Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru, President of Indonesia Sukarno, and President of Ghana Kwame Nkrumah.

After the breakup of Yugoslavia, a founding member, its membership was suspended in 1992 at the regular ministerial meeting held in New York during the regular annual session of the United Nations General Assembly.

As of October 2019, the organization consists of 120 member states, including the non-UN member state of Palestine, as well as 17 other observer countries and 10 observer organizations.