Kragujevac gets Holiday Inn in early 2012 - Zastava Promet-Arena Motors invests over EUR 10m in four-star hotel

(A model of the future hotel)

- Construction of a Holiday Inn hotel in Kragujevac should commence in March 2011 - it was announced today in the city property administration.

- The investment in this four-star hotel exceeds 10 million euros - said Nebojsa Ilic, a member of the City Council for Investments and Development.

Holiday Inn will occupy the surface area of 7,500 square meters and it will comprise 70 rooms and accompanying contents that will meet the standards of the namesake hotel chain.

Vasiljevic said that the investor had decided, because of the recession, that Holiday Inn hotel in Kragujevac should have 70 instead of 120 rooms, while the construction should be finished prior to March 2012.

According to Vasiljevic, a high-class hotel in this city is "more than needed", primarily because of the operations of Turin-based Fiat and the arrival of a large number of businessmen in Kragujevac.

Holiday Inn hotel will be built at the entrance to Kragujevac, next to Bubanj lake, on the building lot of 45 ares.

- Negotiations with the investors lasted for two years, and the city of Kragujevac obtained one of the three franchises in Serbia in March 2010, while Belgrade and Novi Sad got the other two - said Vasiljevic.

He added that "the city will put maximum efforts into maintaining the franchise and bringing another global brand to Kragujevac, in addition to Fiat and Plaza".

By the end of November, when the validity of the granted franchise expires, the city of Kragujevac should issue a location permit for construction to the investor.

- However, there is an obstacle to the commencement of the construction - the unresolved property relations with privatized company Zastava Promet and the service next to the lake - so that the future activities of the local self-government will be directed at the reaching of an agreement - said Vasiljevic.

He expressed an expectation that the existing "property circus" would be resolved in order for the deadlines for the construction of the state-of-the-art hotel in Sumadija to be respected.

As Vasiljevic learns, the managers who will be working at Kragujevac's Holiday Inn have already been selected.