City Lodge, the JSE-listed hotels operator, said on Wednesday that work has begun at its 305-room hotel at OR Tambo Airport, Africa's busiest airport.

City Lodge, which operates 43 hotels across South Africa offering nearly 5,000 rooms, said the hotel will be completed in April next year two months before the 2010 Fifa World Cup kick-off.

The hotel is being developed as part of a tender awarded to City Lodge Hotels last year by the Airports Company of South Africa to establish three new hotels at OR Tambo, Port Elizabeth and Bloemfontein airports.

All three hotels which will cost around R290 million to develop are subject to a long-term land and building lease agreement between City Lodge Hotels and ACSA.

Construction work on the 90-room Road Lodge Port Elizabeth Airport and the 68-room Road Lodge Bloemfontein Airport is expected to begin once regulatory approvals have been finalised.

Source: I-Net Bridge