Hoima faces an accommodation crisis ahead of AFCON 2027 despite new stadium and airport upgrades being completed on schedule.
CAF requires at least five five-star hotels with 50 rooms each for teams and officials according to an inspection report cited by Daily Monitor.
Seven Hoima hotels and three in Masindi are expanding with government-backed financing to meet international standards before the tournament.
Edmara Hotel targets 95 rooms while Hoima Resort Hotel has added a new wing alongside its 56 rooms and three presidential suites.
Kabalega Resort Hotels plans to increase combined capacity from 102 rooms to 259 but permanent hotels take years to build and certify.
The Paris 2024 Olympic Village covered 52 hectares across three communes and was designed as a neighbourhood with a second life after the Games.
Athletes stayed in modular units that converted into permanent housing, offices and community spaces once the event finished in August.
An AFCON Accommodation Village in Hoima could use similar modular construction to house teams temporarily then serve Uganda long-term.
Such a village would bypass the slow pace of hotel certification while delivering a legacy asset for the Bunyoro region after 2027.
The argument doing the rounds in Kampala is whether government has the political will to attempt unconventional infrastructure when hotels are already expanding.
AFCON 2027 kicks off in January next year with Hoima hosting group matches at the newly built Kabaale Stadium.
How would an AFCON village work in Hoima?
Modular units would house teams during the tournament then convert to affordable housing, student hostels or civil servant accommodation for Hoima city.
Source: Kawowo Sports
