What if Hoima built an AFCON Village instead of more hotels?

Uganda’s accommodation headache ahead of AFCON 2027 may require a different kind of thinking.

Having had the opportunity to be at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, I saw first-hand how a host city can approach accommodation for a major sporting event at an entirely different scale.

That experience got me thinking about Uganda’s own challenge as the country prepares to host the Africa Cup of Nations next year.

With Hoima facing a significant accommodation challenge, perhaps there is room for a different solution — one inspired by what I saw in Paris, but designed around Uganda’s own realities, resources and long-term needs.

I am not suggesting Uganda should build a Paris-sized Olympic Village. Far from it.

But what if Hoima built an AFCON Accommodation Village?

It sounds ambitious. Perhaps even unconventional, but with Uganda racing against time, perhaps unconventional thinking is exactly what is required.

There is a strange irony unfolding in Hoima.

Uganda is preparing to welcome one of Africa’s biggest sporting events. A new stadium has been built. Training facilities are being developed. Roads and utilities are being upgraded. Kabalega International Airport is being prepared. Hotels are expanding.

And yet, one of the simplest questions remains one of the hardest:

Where will everybody sleep?

The hotel problem

Hoima’s challenge is not that it has no hotels.

The challenge is whether it will have enough rooms of the required standard, in the right locations, at the right time.

CAF’s requirements have put additional pressure on the accommodation sector. A CAF inspection report cited by Daily Monitor called for validated accommodation capacity for teams and officials, including at least five five-star hotels with a minimum of 50 rooms each and the required operational standards and amenities.

The response has already begun.

Hotel owners in Hoima and Masindi are expanding their facilities, adding rooms and upgrading services. Seven hotels in Hoima and three in Masindi have been selected to accommodate official AFCON guests, with government-backed financing intended to help them meet international standards.

Edmara Hotel, for example, is expanding towards about 95 rooms. Hoima Resort Hotel has 56 rooms and three presidential suites and has added another accommodation wing. Kabalega Resort Hotels is reportedly increasing its combined capacity from 102 rooms to 259.

That is good news, but it also illustrates the scale of the problem.

Uganda cannot simply hope that existing hotels will somehow multiply overnight.

So perhaps we need to ask a different question.

Does the solution to a temporary accommodation shortage have to be permanent hotels?

Paris offers an interesting lesson

This is where my experience at the Paris Olympics comes in.

The Paris 2024 Olympic Village was not simply a collection of buildings designed to house athletes for a few weeks and then be forgotten.

It was conceived as a neighbourhood with a second life.

The village covered about 52 hectares across Saint-Denis, Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine and Île-Saint-Denis. Around 30 buildings were constructed, with capacity for approximately 45,000 beds during the Games, accommodating 14,250 athletes and official support staff.

But the most interesting thing wasn’t the scale. It was the philosophy.

Henri Specht, director of the Athletes’ Village at Solideo, put it simply: “Every space has been designed to be reversible and reconvertible after the event.”

And then came the line that, for me, is the real lesson: “The legacy of the Games was in our minds right from the off.”

That is the part Uganda should borrow. Not Paris’ budget, not Paris’ scale, but the thinking.

Build for AFCON. Plan for the morning after

Imagine Hoima having an AFCON Accommodation Village.

Not necessarily thousands upon thousands of rooms. Not a giant concrete monument.

Instead, imagine a purpose-built accommodation complex using modular or prefabricated units, supported by restaurants, laundry facilities, medical services, recreation spaces, security, parking, internet connectivity and a dedicated transport hub.

During AFCON, it could accommodate teams, officials, media personnel, support staff or other tournament stakeholders, depending on CAF’s requirements and approvals.

But here’s the important part: What happens after AFCON?

That question should be answered before construction begins.

The accommodation could potentially be converted into:

• Serviced apartments
• Student accommodation
• Workforce housing
• Affordable housing
• Tourism accommodation
• Corporate accommodation
• A conventional hospitality complex

Some modular units could even be relocated if the design and economics made that viable.

The philosophy would be simple: Don’t build an AFCON facility that dies when AFCON ends.

Paris followed precisely this kind of thinking. The Olympic Village was designed to become a new neighbourhood, with more than 2,800 homes, offices, shops and other uses after the Games.

That is an important lesson for Uganda.

Hoima is not Paris — and that’s precisely the point

There is no reason to pretend that Uganda can or should replicate Paris.

Paris had years of planning, enormous financial resources and an urban environment completely different from Hoima.

Uganda has a much tighter timeline and a completely different economic context.

But that doesn’t make the idea irrelevant; it makes adaptation more important.

The Ugandan version could be smaller, simpler and more commercially focused.

Perhaps the model is not “Build an Olympic Village”, but “Create a temporary high-standard accommodation district that can become something else afterwards.”

That is a very different proposition.

Hoima has something Paris didn’t have: Oil

There is another reason I find this idea particularly interesting for Hoima.

Hoima is not simply an AFCON host city; it is emerging as an important centre of Uganda’s oil and gas economy.

That means the demand for accommodation does not necessarily disappear when the football disappears.

Workers will need accommodation; companies will need somewhere to house visiting employees and consultants.

Business travellers will need hotels and serviced apartments; conferences will need venues.

Tourists heading towards western Uganda will need somewhere to stay.

Government officials and other visitors will continue coming to the region.

In other words, Hoima’s accommodation problem may actually be a long-term economic opportunity disguised as an AFCON problem.

And that changes the question.

Instead of asking: “How do we find enough rooms for AFCON?”, we should perhaps be asking: “How can AFCON help Hoima build the accommodation infrastructure it will need for the next 20 years?”

But Uganda is already spending heavily

This is where the proposal needs to be approached carefully.

Uganda is already committing substantial resources to AFCON preparations.

Parliament reported that the government had committed Shs905 billion in the 2026/27 financial year towards AFCON preparations. That includes money for roads, the Kabalega Airport passenger terminal, stadium upgrades, the Local Organising Committee and health infrastructure.

For hospitality specifically, Shs101.1 billion has been allocated to support hotel upgrades in Hoima and Masindi through a special credit facility under Uganda Development Bank. The government says consultations with CAF on hotel standards have already taken place.

The Office of the Prime Minister has separately outlined Shs545 billion for AFCON-related projects in Hoima and Masindi, including Shs101.1 billion for hoteliers, Shs183.7 billion for the passenger terminal at Kabalega International Airport, Shs106.4 billion for roads and water and electricity infrastructure, and Shs52.1 billion for training facilities.

So this isn’t a situation where Uganda has unlimited money waiting to be spent.

Any new accommodation project would have to answer a difficult question: Why spend more money when the government is already financing hotel upgrades?

The answer, if there is one, would have to be that the village fills a specific capacity gap while creating a commercially viable asset for the future.

Perhaps the answer is a public-private partnership

I would therefore be very cautious about suggesting that government simply builds the entire thing.

A different model could be explored.

Government could potentially facilitate land, roads, water, electricity, sewerage, security and approvals, while private investors provide accommodation units, furniture, restaurants, laundry, hospitality operations and maintenance.

The AFCON tournament provides the initial demand; the private operator then takes the facility into its second life.

That could potentially make the project more attractive to investors than a facility whose only purpose is to house people for a few weeks in 2027.

Of course, that would require proper feasibility studies, procurement, financial modelling and legal arrangements.

But the principle is worth exploring.

Modular construction is where the idea gets interesting

The biggest argument for considering modular accommodation is time.

Traditional hotel construction is a complicated chain.

You need: Design → approvals → foundations → structure → walls → plumbing → electrical → finishing → furnishing → commissioning.

Every delay pushes the next stage backwards.

Modular construction can allow some of those processes to happen simultaneously.

Accommodation units can be manufactured while site preparation and utility infrastructure happen elsewhere. Then the units arrive and are assembled.

This does not mean Uganda should buy containers, put beds inside them and call them hotels. That would be an entirely different proposition.

If such a facility is considered, it would need to be designed as proper hospitality accommodation, with appropriate fire protection, sanitation, security, accessibility, cooling, power, water, internet and other requirements.

And crucially, CAF would need to be involved early.

CAF’s own 2027 planning has identified accommodation, infrastructure, transport, safety, security and visitor experience as key areas of readiness.

The idea should therefore never be: “Let’s build something quickly and ask CAF later”, but it should be: “Let’s design something that meets CAF requirements from the beginning.”

Don’t forget the hotels already being built

An AFCON Village should not be viewed as a replacement for Hoima’s hotel industry. It should complement it.

The hotel industry is already responding.

At Hoima Resort, management has engaged CAF advisers on accommodation standards and has added a new accommodation wing intended to host one participating national team.

Albertine Palace is increasing its international-standard rooms from 78 to 100 and upgrading other facilities.

Kabalega Resort Hotels is expanding significantly, with reported capacity increasing from 102 rooms to 259 across its facilities.

These investments matter.

They represent private money, local employment and infrastructure that will remain long after AFCON.

So the strategy should not be: Hotels vs AFCON Village”, but it could be: Hotels + AFCON Village + Masindi + transport.

And that brings us to another important part of the puzzle.

Masindi could be part of the solution

Masindi is roughly 70 kilometres from Hoima and is already part of the wider AFCON infrastructure plan, with King George Training Facility among the facilities being developed for the tournament.

Hotels there are also preparing.

Ladu Hotel is expanding rooms and upgrading connectivity and security, while other operators are increasing capacity and developing tourism packages. Kabalega Resort Hotels is also expanding across Hoima and Masindi.

This means Uganda does not necessarily need to force every visitor into Hoima.

A reliable, dedicated tournament shuttle network could connect Kabalega International Airport, Hoima, AFCON Accommodation Village, Hoima City Stadium and Masindi.

If transport is properly planned, accommodation becomes a regional network, not simply a Hoima problem.

And that could actually benefit the entire Bunyoro tourism and hospitality ecosystem.

The biggest risk isn’t construction

It is what happens afterwards.

Uganda has to be careful not to fall into the trap of building something impressive simply because a major event is coming.

The real test of AFCON infrastructure will not be the day the first match is played; it will be the day after the final match.

Who owns the accommodation? Who operates it? Who maintains it? Who lives there? Who pays for it? Can it make money? Can it become housing? Can it serve the oil and gas sector? Can it host another tournament? Can it support tourism? Can it be adapted?

If those questions don’t have answers, then perhaps the project should not be built.

That is one of the most valuable lessons from Paris.

The Olympic Village was planned around its legacy from the beginning. The City of Paris says the post-Games development was designed to include more than 2,800 homes, 10,000 square metres of offices and shops, rather than simply leaving behind an athlete dormitory.

That is the difference between event infrastructure and development infrastructure.

We are running out of time

And this is why the conversation needs to happen now.

CAF has already been assessing infrastructure across Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. Its preparations cover much more than stadiums: accommodation, transport, airports, training grounds, safety, security, media and logistics are all part of the equation.

Uganda has made significant progress.

But the hotel question remains one of the issues that cannot simply be wished away.

And while the private sector is investing, construction takes time.

That means every additional solution has to be evaluated quickly.

Hoima City Stadium | Credit: John Batanudde

Maybe the stadium isn’t the biggest legacy

When people think about AFCON 2027 in Hoima, they will probably remember the stadium first.

And understandably so. It is the most visible symbol of the tournament.

But after the final whistle, the stadium will remain. So will the roads, airport, hotels, accommodation infrastructure and the people of Hoima.

That is why I think the conversation about accommodation should go beyond “How many hotel rooms do we have?”

The bigger question is: What kind of city do we want Hoima to become because of AFCON?

If the answer is simply a city that successfully hosted football matches, then we have missed an opportunity.

But if AFCON can accelerate Hoima’s transformation into a stronger hospitality, business, tourism and oil-and-gas centre, then the tournament becomes much more than a month of football.

An AFCON Accommodation Village is not a magic solution.

It would need feasibility studies. It would need investors. It would need proper engineering. It would need CAF approval. It would need serious management. And, perhaps most importantly, it would need a credible business and social purpose after AFCON.

But I believe the idea is worth putting on the table.

Because I have seen what it looks like when a major sporting event is used to build something that has a life beyond the event itself.

Uganda doesn’t need to build Paris; it needs to learn from Paris.

Build for the tournament, but design for the aftermath.

And when the final whistle goes, make sure the infrastructure still has a reason to exist.

That, perhaps, would be the real AFCON legacy.

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