Massive Ummayad Square development announced
A Kuwaiti company is going to build a quarter of a billion dollar tourism and leisure centre on the Ummayad Square.
At the centre will be Syria's first InterContinental Hotel. There will also be a shopping centre, cinemas, offices plus a health club and spa.
Kuwaiti company Kharafi Group has won the right to build the 50,000 square metre Kiwan project. It should be complete within two years.
The Ummayad Square is one of the most important centres in the new city. An underpass to ease traffic congestion took years to build. Around the square are the Opera House, the National Library, the National TV Centre, part of the University and the wonderful Tishreen Park. One of the roads leads into the heart of Damascus, another to Beirut, and a third goes up to Mount Qassioun. It's not clear which side the Kiwan project will be on.
It's the latest stage in Syria's push for tourism, which seems to be working - there have already been 23% extra visitors this year.
Very, very nice. Thank you.
have a nice weekend
Posted by
david santos |
12:16 am
23% extra vistors this year?
enjoy it while you can because everybody knows when Lebanon is back on track, ALL visitors will be coming back to beirut..
Look back at 2006 when the country the country was wall to wall with tourists, and the SYRIAN SPONSORED TERRORIST GROUP decided to abduct 2israeli soldiers.
Posted by
Anonymous |
3:36 am
Interesting, any ideas about the architecture style of the new hotel? When are they planned to start construction?
Posted by
Yazan |
4:57 pm
anonymous
we all hope that Lebanon gets back on the track again, in all feilds not only in tourism.
and if u allow me to say this, not quiet sure if it is going to cause any harm to u, but all this oppostions and Mwallat fighting is quiet , i don't know how to describe it, it actually makes my eyes wide open to see ppl next to us going to the streets and say whatever they want to whoever they want.
anyway, may peace comes back to lebanon .
sasa, i can't see any space in Omayyed Square for such a project, they not going to remove the park, are they?:(
Posted by
مترجم سوري |
9:15 pm
Yazan, I'm waiting for them to give me some more details. If they're promising it will be ready within two years, I guess they are going to have to start construction very very soon.
Amniyah, I think we all want Lebanon to become stable as soon as possible.
I don't know where it's going to go. I hope it won't be on Tishreen Park. Isn't the university building empty at the moment? You know, the one next to the Virtual University. I might be wrong.
But you know what these companies are like - they say "at Ummayad Sqaure" and then it turns out to be nearby, instead of right on the square. We will see very soon.
Posted by
sasa |
11:12 pm
Hmmm, imagine a huge hotel in the middle of the square...what about the water foutain?
There is no space for a hotel in the square or even overlooking the square. There are two nearby location however, the first is the former Damascus International fair ground, which is owned by awqaf and will be turned into a park for children (!!!) and the other spot would be in the area behind the Sheraton hotel.
Posted by
Ihsan |
3:43 pm
update ur information ya ihsan. the fair ground was bought to Rami Makhlouf like a year ago.
that's why the book fair was held back in Assad library.
Posted by
مترجم سوري |
4:59 pm
Unless they will take over the Sheraton?
Posted by
sasa |
5:26 pm