Tourism projects coming – Mottley

With Government now reviewing some “major” hotel proposals, the island should witness the start of some new hotel projects by summer this year, stimulating employment and economic activity.

Prime Minister Mia Mottley made the disclosure on Wednesday as she gave an update on some of the much talked about tourism-related projects that were scheduled to take place over the next two years.

She was responding to questions during the first Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) luncheon at the Hilton Resort, which was held under the theme Envisioning 2020: The Path Towards a New Decade.

Mottley said while her administration would continue to diversify the economy and look to new areas such as the medical cannabis industry and renewable energy for some earnings, it would continue to grow the bread and butter tourism industry.

“We will not apologize for the fact that the Government has a major set of proposals before us for hotels, villas and other things, and we are working through them,” said Mottley.

The Prime Minister said she was expecting at least an additional 1,500 hotel rooms over the next two years.

She indicated that the building of a Royalton hotel should begin construction in Holetown, St James by May while the Hotel Indigo should start construction of its property on the old Caribbee Hotel site in Hastings, Christ Church in another four months.

In the case of the Wyndham Sam Lord’s Castle project in St Philip, the Request for Proposals (RFP) for the sale of that property closed at the end of January and officials are in the process of doing their review in order to choose a suitable buyer.

Mottley explained that Government was unable to find the counterpart funding for the US$200 million project, which was initially to be partly funded through a US$170 million loan from the Bank of Chinese.

“They have gifted the Barbados Tourism Investment Inc. the counterpart funds for that, and that project has actually restarted,” she told the BCCI members.

Mottley said she did not expect the sale of the Sam Lord’s Castle project to be immediate, adding that it was Government’s plan to complete the construction and allow the prospective buyer to have an input in the design.

This means the completion of the sale would come at the end of the construction.

However, Mottley indicated that the percentage put forward by the Chinese Government was “unlikely” to be beaten by any other source.

She said in relation to the Paradise project in St Michael, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed with the developers last October, and Attorney General Dale Marshall and economist Professor Avinash Persaud were seeking to conclude that agreement.

Mottley explained that an initial payment of US$1 million was made in escrow.

“Once we finish we anticipate hopefully that we would have an agreement that will see about US$20 million paid to the Government now and the other US$44.5 million being kept as preference shares, and the Government then will either offer them to members of the public at the appropriate time or hold them for a future government to decide,” she explained.

“With respect to Port Ferdinand, that is before the Town Planning now and the Ministry of Transport and Works has already agreed in principle to an alignment we have to do there. That will see an additional 60 or 70 rooms to Port Ferdinand and a new five or six-star branded hotel will be opening there. These are the definitive ones,” she said.

Indicating that Sandals Resorts International (SRI) officials were “anxious” to restart the stalled multi-million dollar Beaches project in Heywoods, St Peter, Mottley said she and Attorney General Dale Marshall met with them last year.

She said SRI would be increasing the room count of its Sandals Barbados property in Christ Church by over 60 rooms.

“We are waiting word from Mr [Gordon ‘Butch’] Stewart as to what he is going to do with Beaches. I will say no more on that at this stage,” said Mottley.

Stating that the permission application for the proposed Pierhead project was before Government, Mottley said geotechnical and soil studies were ongoing in order to get the design of the buildings right “with a hope that they can start by the end of this year or early 2021”.

“So these are the ones that are in town planning. These are not speculative. There are other speculative ones. There are many more with whom we have discussions but I am not going to excite or titillate people,” she said.

Giving an indication that the controversial Hyatt project could start before the end of this year, Mottley said she was only awaiting additional information on the planned over-water bungalows.

She said: “I want to see 2,500 workers before Christmas on that site working and when the buildings finish I want to see 1,500 workers coming to work every day.”

“I am satisfied that Bridgetown is going to be more known as a tourism site and mixed used for residential for Bajans living back in town at all income levels . . . and Government is doing its part,” she added.

She said in that regard, the RFP for the Treasury building would go out “shortly” for young people.

“The application for the Pierhead is not only about tourism accommodation but is also about residential accommodation and in the Hyatt the same thing,” she added.

In relation to outstanding payments for the former Liquidation Centre site, which has been compulsory acquired by Government to accommodate the Hyatt construction, Mottley reiterated that Government was willing to pay, but was not willing to pay taxpayers money for way more than it was valued.

She said the same was true for the Harrismith property recently acquired in St Philip.