BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – A ground-breaking ceremony was held yesterday afternoon (May 13) at Potato Bay, which is envisaged to enhance the Frigate Bay area.
This project, which falls under the Citizens by Investment Programme, will see the construction of a US$89M luxurious condominium hotel, termed the Pelican Bay Beach Front Homes Development.
The ceremony had seen a large turnout of investors and government officials, including the Governor General, His Excellency Sir Edmund Lawrence; Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas; Deputy Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Asim Martin; and Minister of Tourism Richard Skerritt.
The project is a joint venture among the Federal Government, Construction Technologies in St. Kitts (CONTEC), Sterling Asset Management and Surrey Paving of Jamaica.
According to PM Douglas, the project is expected to be completed and fully operational by the end of 2014 and is expected to generate revenue flows to the Treasury of some US$10M in direct government taxes and fees alone.
He said that such an investment would assist in pulling visitor interest to the Federation, as they would not only see what the nation has to offer but also the expanding options that are being made available within the Federation itself.
He continued: “Many of the world’s traditionally strongest nations were experiencing severe financial difficulties of their own and St. Kitts and Nevis found itself in that strange situation where, as our policies yielded greater and greater social and economic benefits for our people, the less access we could have to concessional arrangements that were created to aid weak and struggling nations. In other words, self-reliance was increasingly becoming the order of the day”.
The Prime Minister emphasised that the Federation is but a tiny speck on the world's map and that each country is competing for investment dollars, attempting to attract the kinds of capital injections on which all states is dependant, be it large or small.
“And so we set about developing just the right mix of incentives, concessions, and tax policies to make St. Kitts and Nevis a highly attractive option when compared with competing options. We committed ourselves to ensuring that fiscal affairs of this country were managed in such a way, our civil servants provided for in such a way, and our public sector developed in such a way that investors, whether local or foreign, after assessing us with calm objectivity, would feel fully confident...stepping forward to invest the millions of dollars at their disposal right here. This, as you have seen for several months now, is being done with steady and impressive regularity,” he elucidated.
Dr. Douglas congratulated the partnering companies, stating that "we have worked with each of them before. It is their forward-thinking and imaginative approach that led to the conception and promotion of this hotel condominium development, and we warmly welcome the opportunity to work with them again".
In his brief address, Surrey Paving's Leslie Chang informed that the project "represents a fulfilment of a long held desire since we first arrived".
He said Surrey Paving started out tendering on a contract for the airport with the hope of one day making a significant investment in St. Kitts.
"It has been a dream that we have had since we first came. So this is a very significant project for us and we want to thank the administration for the enlightened and progressive policies that have made such a project possible and given us the opportunity to make a significant contribution to this society here.”
He emphasised on the speed and facilitation with which the dream became a reality, noting that within six months all approvals and regulatory were settled which paved the way for an expeditious start to the development.
