R75m investment plan for Sun Meropa unveiled

Turning the first sod for a new three star at Sun Meropa are from left Kenny Maboea (chief director: business regulation at the Department of Economic Development); Thabo Mosololi (Sun International’s director of operations), Serobi Maja (CEO of the Gambling Board); Raleigh Maesela (chairman of the Meropa Board) and Ruben Gooranah (regional general manager: Sun International).

The chief director: business regulation, Kenny Maboea from the Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism; the chairman of the Limpopo Gambling Board, Mashile Mokono; the CEO of the Gambling Board, Serobi Maja; chairman of the Meropa board, Raleigh Maesela; chairperson of the Domba Empowerment Corporation, Ndivhu Ramalibana; and Sun International’s director of operations, Thabo Mosololi were amongst the guests who attended the sod turning event.

Economic stimulus

The development aims to provide economic stimulus for the region, both during the construction period and after, through job creation and tourism to the area. About 500 new on- and off-site jobs will be created during the construction phase, with the majority of the labour to be sourced from the local community.

“Sun International takes great pride in its role as a corporate citizen of Polokwane, and we continuously strive towards excellence to enhance Sun Meropa’s appeal so as to promote tourism to the city and thereby contribute to the local economy. By extending Sun Meropa with a hotel, we believe we can increase our contribution to economic growth and tourism in the area,” said Mosololi.

On completion, the hotel will have 60 rooms all with a Moroccan theme. 54 of the rooms will be standard rooms; the hotel will have four junior suites and two superior suites.