Derelict Mozambique landmark hotel demolished
Sat 31 Mar 2007, 16:02 GMT

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MAPUTO, 31 March (Reuters) - The shell of a disused beachfront hotel that has been a landmark of the Mozambican capital for more than three decades was demolished on Saturday to make for a new U.S. embassy.
The multi-storey Four Seasons Hotel would have been the largest in the southern African country but its construction was abandoned in 1974 after a coup in former colonial ruler Portugal led to Mozambique's independence the following year.
"The Americans want a secure site away from the bustle of central Maputo, and here is a large site beside the beach containing nothing but a large ruin ... it makes sense that they occupy it," Deputy Tourism Minister Rosario Muleia told Mozambican television.
"So rather than the enormous expense involved in trying to rehabilitate a 32-year-old shell, it would make more sense to rent the land to the Americans", he said.

Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)

March 31, 2007

Maputo

One of Maputo's least loved landmarks, the unfinished and derelict "Four Seasons" hotel, disappeared for ever on Saturday morning, brought down in a controlled implosion.

The successful operation, undertaken at precisely 07.00, lasted for just 13 seconds. A sound like a thunderclap could be heard, and the building collapsed upon itself.

It had been thought that a huge cloud of dust would envelop the site, taking half an hour to dissipate - but the torrential rains that fell in Maputo over the past two days ensured that this did not happen.

The demolition used 2,700 kilos of explosives and 988 detonators. These were placed at six points in the 29 storey building (on the ground, first, second, seventh, ninth, 13th, and 22nd floors).

Matt Zaiman, general manager of the American company CDI (Controlled Demolition Inc), which was in charge of destroying the building, said the implosion was highly successful.

Zaiman said that demolishing the "Four Seasons" was one of the most difficult tasks CDI has ever undertaken, since the construction was highly resistant.

Part of the left side of the building was left standing, apparently deliberately, and will be demolished mechanically.

Lopes Pereira, chairperson of the Four Seasons Property Company, which holds the lease on the site, told reporters that the demolition cost 600,000 US dollars. He said the next stage will be to remove the rubble - which will be more expensive (1.2 million dollars) and could take up to five months.

Once the site is clear, new premises for the United States embassy, and a tourism and office complex will be built there.

Pereira said this construction could begin in early 2008.

However, the deal is not entirely done: Pereira said negotiations are still under way between the company and the US embassy.

Security measures were taken, including establishing a temporary "Exclusion Zone" in the vicinity of the "Four Seasons", that people could not enter or leave for two hours. Residents of this area were advised either to leave 45 minutes before the demolition, or to stay indoors with the windows and doors shut.

During this period the Maputo coast road was also closed to traffic.

When designed in the colonial era, the "Four Seasons" was intended to be the grandest hotel in what was then Lourenco Marques. But it turned into a gigantic eyesore towering above the nearby beach.

The original owner was the South African Four Seasons hotel chain. Its plan for a 340 room luxury hotel, with a view over Maputo Bay, was drawn up in 1969.

By 1974, the structure of the hotel was complete, including the plumbing, electricity and sewers. But that year Portuguese colonialism collapsed, and in September the new Portuguese government signed the Mozambican independence agreement with the liberation movement, Frelimo.

The Four Seasons group and their Portuguese partners rapidly lost interest in its Maputo investment, and construction halted.

According to a detailed history of this ruined building, contained in the latest issue of the independent weekly "Savana", bits and pieces of the unfinished hotel, including doors and windows, were sold off, or stolen. So were the cutlery and towels that had already been produced, bearing the Four Seasons logo.

The Minister of Public Works at the time, Julio Carrilho, said the post-independence government had other priorities, and paid little attention to an unfinished hotel. It was also clear that the building work had been shoddy, and the hotel suffered from several technical defects.

A few years late the government decided to turn the building into an "apartment hotel" to accommodate foreign workers, and so construction restarted. Rooms were restructured, introducing kitchenettes. But the money seems to have run out, for construction halted again in 1981.

Since then a series of companies have expressed an interest in the hotel, some even signing agreements with the government, but they have all given up.

Then, in 2004, the new Four Seasons Company was formed. The then Prime Minister, Pascoal Mocumbi, authorised the sale of the derelict hotel to this company.

Initially it looked as if this company, despite the financial muscle of one of the country's major commercial banks, the BCI, would also fail to do anything with the site. Then came the Americans.

"Savana" suggests that the main factor behind the decision to demolish the hotel was the American obsession with security - understandable in the light of the terrorist attacks against US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and the 11 September 2001 atrocities against New York and Washington.
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The Americans wanted a secure site away from the bustle of central Maputo, and here was a large site beside the beach containing nothing but a large ruin. So rather than the enormous expense involved in trying to rehabilitate a 32 year old shell, the company decided it would make more sense to rent the land to the Americans.

Over the years, urban legends have circulated about the hotel. It is said that fleeing Portuguese settlers poured liquid cement into the plumbing system, or down the lift shafts.

"Savana"'s investigations, however, show that this is just a colourful myth.

Copyright © 2007 Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique.

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Implosion of the 4 Seasons Hotel , Maputo.wmv (http://www.theliberalblogger.com/forum/attachments/f2/10420d1175455408-implosion-4-seasons-hotel-maputo-mozambique-implosion-4-seasons-hotel-maputo.wmv)

Wow thanks for the video. I knew about the planned demolition in February, and I hear the developers want to do something else with the site?

I've downloaded the video, it's truly amazing. At times, the atmosphere created by destroying can be just as beautiful as that created by building

It such a pity that this pristine beach area will not be used for another tourism project. On the contrary, a drab American Embassy Building will be constructed there. (Dead capital, little job creation, no wealth creation worthy of note) It´s really depressing to hear that!>( :drool:

It such a pity that this pristine beach area will not be used for another tourism project. On the contrary, a drab American Embassy Building will be constructed there. (Dead capital, little job creation, no wealth creation worthy of note) It´s really depressing to hear that!>( :drool:

I don't think it's depressing to destroy a white elephant that had no chance of being completed. I think the American embassy would look alot more attractive, it probably will be in Portuguese-style and most likely about 3-floors instead of the Four Seasons colonial monstrosity. The Americans do have the money and the expertise to destroy this white elephant.

The US embassy compound will be adjacent to the Norwegian one, which does look attractive and will take up two thirds of the site while the remaining one third will likely be developed as upscale residential apartments catering to the tourist trade.

I don't think it's depressing to destroy a white elephant that had no chance of being completed. I think the American embassy would look alot more attractive, it probably will be in Portuguese-style and most likely about 3-floors instead of the Four Seasons colonial monstrosity. The Americans do have the money and the expertise to destroy this white elephant.


Mosi, you might have got me wrong , I am happy that it is gone:) , it might have been a nice hotel if it had been entirely completed back it the 70´s but it hasn´t and turned out to be an eyesore...but I am unhappy that this pristine beach location is given to embassy staff, it would have been better to develop another hotel on it! An embassy is not a money-spinner and creates too few jobs for Mozambican people or helps to uplift the country´s image with prime and eye-catching landmarks!

Mozambique- Hotel-Demolition

APA-Maputo (Mozambique) An American demolition company ; Controlled Demolition Inc (CDI), on Saturday successfully destroyed one of Maputo’s least loved landmarks, the unfinished and derelict ’Four Seasons’ Hotel, in a controlled implosion which lasted for just 13 seconds.

The construction of the Fours Seasons Hotel was abandoned in 1974 due to the coup and subsequent revolution in Portugal that led to the independence of Mozambique a year later.

The concrete shell of this huge derelict structure, whose initial scheme involved a five star hotel, crumbled down in a process described as successful.

There have been stories of deliberate sabotage during construction of the hotel, ranging from cement being poured down the lift shafts, and that the Portuguese architects had run off with the plans, but what is certain is that the building was initially planned as the largest hotel in Mozambique but at the end, it never accommodated a single guest.

For three decades, the structure has been little more than a gigantic eyesore towering over the beach and several investors have expressed an interest in completing and operating it, but all have given up.

The Mozambican deputy Tourism Minister, Rosario Muleia told the press that the derelict structure now would be replaced by a new five-star hotel and that the American embassy will also be located in the area.

"The Americans want a secure site away from the bustle of central Maputo, and here is a large site beside the beach containing nothing but a large ruin and it makes sense that they occupy it and we will build a five-star hotel close to it", he said.

"So rather than the enormous expense involved in trying to rehabilitate a 32 year old shell, it would make more sense to rent the land to the Americans", Muleia said without specifying the amount of money involved in the deal.

Its demolition on Saturday used 2,700 kilos of explosives and 988 detonators, placed at six points in the 29 storey building.

Lopes Pereira, chairperson of the Four Seasons Property Company, which holds the lease on the site, told reporters that the cost of the demolition was US$600,000 and that the next stage will be to remove the rubble, which he estimates will cost US$1.2 million and could take up to five months.

Once the site is clear, he said new premises for the United States embassy, including a tourism and office complex will be built there.

Pereira said this construction could begin in early 2008, but that the deal is not entirely completed and negotiations are still under way between the company and the US embassy.

The original owner of the site was the South African Four Seasons hotel chain.

Its plan, drawn up in 1969, was for a 340 room luxury hotel, with a view over Maputo Bay.

Since 1992 when apartheid was about to end in South Africa, several South African investors had come to look at the Four Seasons but they all went back without accomplishing anything.

The most notable deal involved a businessman from Mpumalanga in South Africa, who, in 2000, along with the Mozambican government, was to have invested R300 million (US$ 42.8 million) to open a 340-room hotel to be run by Southern Sun Hotels or Sun International, but that deal also fell through.

According to Emporis, the building's name is Quatro Estacoes.