Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Wednesday inaugurated the JAT Centre, a tourist and commercial complex in downtown Maputo.
The complex consists of five buildings, including a supermarket, the four-star Meliá Maputo Sky Hotel with 172 rooms, 84 apartments, 156 shops, a gymnasium, offices, and a car park with space for 1,800 vehicles. The complex belongs to the JAT Group, whose earlier buildings already dominate much of the modern part of the downtown area.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Nyusi said the complex is an initiative which will add value to the tourism sector, increase the offer of tourism services and diversify the accommodation offered.
“This is an example of how the Mozambican private sector is backing the government’s project of selecting tourism as one of the pillars for development, to make Mozambique a preferred tourist destination at world level”, he declared.
For his part, the chairperson of the JAT Group, Joao Brito, noted that the area of 130,000 square metres on which the complex has been built was once a swamp. The inauguration ceremony marked the 20th anniversary of the start of the JAT Group’s operations in Maputo.
He stressed that the Group, which employs hundreds of people, also undertakes “social responsibility actions, notably in health, education, and support for needed children and for the elderly”.