by Christiana Gokyo, Jos
The Plateau State Governor, Barr. Caleb Mutfwang, says the State Government is working on investors and, before long, they will announce plans to revive Plateau Hotel and Hill Station Hotel.
The governor made this known over the weekend in Jos, saying, “Government is making sure that, we have befitting hospitality industries that visitors will feel welcome to patronize.”
It is on record that, Plateau Hotel is one of the most beautiful hotels and most affordable that everyone used to love to stay when on holidays. It is located in a very easy and accessible area, close to Hill Station Hotel Jos.
The hotel can also be said to be located in an area where movement for guests will not be a problem, as it is centrally located. The hotel was quite cheap and affordable.
It has a couple of rooms to offer guests as they come in when it was leased out, before the State Government collected it back during the Joshua Dariye’s administration. And since then, during the Jonah Jang Administration, it is run at skeleton services.
Investigation revealed that, the hotel has about 200 rooms, while during past administration of the Simon Lalong, it was discovered that, some of the rooms were given out as “residential” and “offices for rent” and only about 23 to 25 rooms or thereabout are reserved for guests to lodge in.
The Plateau Hotel uses dry-cleaning and housekeeping services, swimming pool, Bar, Restaurant and more comfortable environment, among other things to mention.
The Plateau Hotel was an affordable hotel in Jos, meant to be repositioned as the foremost “Tourist Destination” in Nigeria. It is expected that the Present Government of Barr. Caleb Mutfwang will look into the situation by remoulding and renovating the Hotel, as this will help the State Government to generate more revenue to the state.
The level of investment in the sector would have risen significantly and revenue receipt from Tourism would begin to play a dominant role in the livelihood of the citizenry and the state’s economy to reduce State’s dependence on Federal Government.
Government is, therefore, determined to develop Tourism to the fullest as a strong and sustainable economic activity in the state; because, the situation at the Plateau Hotel and the Jos Plaza (off Zaria Road Jos) is not something to talk about – structures are dilapidated and vandalized, especially the Conference Room and other structures.
Meanwhile, earlier before the governor made an announcement of reviving the hotel, our correspondent visited the hotel to see the level of dilapidated structures and called on the Commissioner for Tourism for comments on government side, but he declined.
The correspondent was, however, asked to write a questionnaire, which was written and submitted since February, but up till this time to no avail.