The Cabinet of Antigua & Barbuda has endorsed a development proposal for Guiana Island and Crump Peninsular, in spite of its earlier position to declare the lands part of a protective management plan for a marine sanctuary.
The land, situated in St Peter’s parish and owned by R Allen Stanford’s Stanford International Bank (SIB) – have been a contentious topic stretching between past and present administrations and stirring environmental activists.
It is now in the hands of joint liquidators as Stanford awaits his trial in the United States following an investigation for fraud by the US Securities Exchange Commission.
These lands were, however, never among those parcels compulsory acquired by the government and now handed over. Attorney General Justin Simon announced in Parliament on May 27 that some of the lands were released to Vantis Business Recovery Services to generate money to repay investors who were allegedly defrauded.
According to information on www.iprantigua.com, Gilbert Boustany, acting on behalf of liquidator Nigel Hamilton-Smith, is seeking interested investors for acquisition of the land and the Island Paradise Resort Development project.
So far, the joint liquidators Hamilton-Smith and Peter Wastell of Vantis Business Recovery Services have “engaged OBMI and Ernst & Young to create a master plan vision and a high level feasibility study for the future development of the site.”
In a letter dated February 20, 2010 to Boustany, the government gave its seal of approval to the Island Paradise Resort (IPR) proposal.
“This is to advise that the Government of Antigua and Barbuda is in strong support of the Island Paradise Resort Development Project and the Crump Peninsular and Guiana Island,” the letter said. “At a meeting of the Cabinet on Thursday 18th, February the project was presented by Antigua and Barbuda Investment Authority and received favourable consideration from the Cabinet. I look forward to continuing working closely with your group to see the full completion of this project." It was signed by Minister of Tourism, Civil Aviation and Culture John Maginley.
The AG confirmed to Caribarena.com that Cabinet met to discuss the proposal and later submitted an agreement in principle.
“The creators were seeking to attract investors and basically indicating to investors the kind of development, and they wanted the government’s OK in principle to that kind of development on Guiana Island… there is an agreement in principle with the development proposals,” he said. “There has been no firm proposal in respect of the development. What they wanted was to advertise the place and to see what kind of development would be supported when they present it to would-be investors."
The IPR website said the company intends to create a project that will rank first among destinations in Antigua, and significantly boost tourism. It also promises to preserve the existing natural resources on the site.
Caribarena.com has been informed that the proposal has reached the Development Control Authority (DCA) for consideration. We were further told that DCA had forwarded the document to the Environmental Division for review, and to submit recommendations. However, this has not been confirmed by those bodies.
Simon, however, told Caribarena.com that for a plan to reach DCA, it must be presented by the person or persons who would be leading the actual development.
The overall project, as stated on the IPR website, includes five hotels with 1,060 rooms, in addition to 1,300 residential units, a golf course, a casino and sports marine, and commercial facilities on the 982 acres of Crump Peninsula, 478 acres of Guiana Island, and 52 acres on Crump Island.
In 2007, the United Progressive Party (UPP) administration refused to sell Guiana Island Farms land to Stanford for the construction of a multi-million dollar development.
Nonetheless, Stanford managed to bypass the government, and acquired the land from Asian Village Antigua Limited, owned by Dato Tan Kay Hock.
Dato Tan had failed to deliver on an agreement with the Antigua Labour Party (ALP) government to construct a resort on the property.
Update: Since writing this article, caribarena.com has confirmed that the joint liquidators Nigel Hamilton-Smith and Peter Wastell of Vantis Business Recovery Services are no longer the liquidators. It is also unknown who will assume the liquidation duties.
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