The Four Seasons was planned in the closing years of colonial rule as the largest hotel in the country. But when independence came in 1975, the shareholders of the company that owned the site fled to Portugal, leaving the building unfinished.
Since then there have been several attempts to find investors willing to complete the building, but all have given up.
The latest was the "Four Seasons Property Company" which won a tender for the abandoned building four years ago. The company claims to have invested four million dollars - but the building looks as ruined as ever.
The company's deputy chairperson, Trigo de Morais, told reporters on Thursday that attempts to complete the building are now being abandoned, and the 6,000 square metre lot that it occupies will be devoted to other purposes.
Trigo de Morais said that a deal has almost been concluded with the United States embassy which wants to move its premises to this area.
The abandoned hotel is 25 storeys high. Adjacent to it is an equally abandoned three storey building. Demolishing these buildings will generate 19,000 cubic metres of rubble. The company will have to discuss the fate of this waste with Maputo City Council.
The demolition work will be managed by the Mozambican consultancy company, Consultec, and an American company, Controlled Demolition Incorporated (CDI), has been hired to carry out the implosion.
A Consultec specialist told reporters that standard demolition methods "would take several months, creating problems of vibration, noise, dust, and safety for long periods, besides the risk to the workers themselves'.
Hence the decision to implode the building. CDI intends to start preparations for the implosion, a month before the scheduled demolition date.
SOURCE: AIM
