NEMA halts Ruparelia Group Construction in Lake Victoria

By News room

19^th Dec 2021

The National Environment Management Authority -NEMA has ordered Speke Hotel (1996) Limited to remove all the soil it has dumped into Lake Victoria before it can be allowed to resume construction works in Kitubulu, Katabi Town Council.

NEMA made the directive after meeting with officials from Ruparelia Group which owns  Speke Hotel.

According to NEMA, Speke Hotel acquired a permit to build a hotel where Ssese Gateway Beach was previously located with condition of maintaining the buffer zone of 100metres as provided for in the Riverbanks and lake shore use regulations, 2020.

The hotel also applied to a permit to build a marina in the same place but NEMA, in a tweet on December 12, says the application was denied.

Speke Hotel, according to Rajiv Ruparelia, it’s manager,  wants to construct a resort and convention centre on Lake Victoria shores in Kitubulu.

The project is reportedly estimated to cost 100 million US Dollars (about 355 Billion shillings), to have a resort with 350 rooms,  a convention center and a conference center with capacity to host 3,500 guests.

The project is currently at  the stage of ground leveling and construction. However, NEMA halted the project on December 10, after a video of trucks dumping soil into the lake went viral on various social media platforms.