POND ISLAND–A 326-room hotel with a showroom and 450 executive apartments will be constructed on the Belair beachfront by a Chinese public-private venture. Plans for the “Pearl of China” project have already approved by Government and the ground-breaking for the project is slated for September 17, and should take some two years to complete.
This multi-million dollar project, for which the Chinese bought the land that was for the shelved Barbaron development, was announced by Finance Minister Richard Gibson Sr. at a town hall session held in University of St. Martin (USM). “We have struck the jackpot,” the minister said, adding that the Chinese have promised to generate at least one million Chinese tourists annually to the country.
The project is the culmination of months of negotiations led by Gibson Sr. and Prime Minister William Marlin with the Chinese Government and private sector representatives.
Marlin said one of the interesting moments in the negotiation was the Chinese did not speak English and their representative on St. Maarten is a Turkish man who did not speak Chinese. He commended Gibson Sr. for his hard work in the past months in getting things moving for the country.
A company reflecting 50 per cent share ownership of the Chinese Government and 50 per cent by the Chinese private sector companies has been established in St. Maarten. Some US $60 million has already been transferred into the company, according Gibson Sr.
Former Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards warned Government in the town hall question segment to make sure the transfer of money had been properly regulated by the Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten.
The 450 apartments will be bought by Chinese private sector companies for their executives and staff who will transact business from St. Maarten. This along with the showroom will make St. Maarten “a hub and centre” for Chinese commercial activities in the region, according to Gibson Sr.
The Chinese have pledged as “a gift” to St. Maarten “to find a water source” to boost agriculture, said Gibson Sr. The Chinese Government also plans to work with Government on cheaper electricity options and to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Further, Gibson Sr. added that the Chinese Government will help to create “an eco-city” here.
A 30-member delegation comprising Chinese Government and private sector officials from mainland China, Singapore Malaysia and Canada will be here for the ground-breaking.
Like Richards, other audience members voiced their worry about a Chinese takeover of the country and what they saw as Government’s disregard of local projects and entrepreneurs. One young woman asked the minister what was the guarantee that she and other young people will have a place in this project and whether she would be living under Chinese rule.
Traffic congestion was also raised by some audience members who pointed out how bad the situation is now and the worry about the impact of one million stay-over Chinese visitors year.
Another attendee said the country needs to be prepared for the Chinese tourists, their habits and behaviour. He also warned about the Chinese doing all the business themselves and not involving locals from the construction phase to the management.
Emilio Kalmera, who has a financial background, questioned how this project will correct the inequality that exists in the country. He added that inequality can only be solved by local people becoming shareholders.
To that the Minister said the Chinese are not going to give away their company and if shares are offered those will come at a price. “I want to tell you there is no Santa Claus.”
St. Maarten needs “to be weaned off of its isolation” from the outside world if it wants to see increased economic growth, said Gibson Sr. at the session entitled “Inequality and Demand.” The country’s economy has been in “a holding pattern for years” that has manifested itself in stagnant growth over the years.
Globalisation has done nothing for St. Maarten or others in the Caribbean, because there are no factories or multi-national companies, he noted. Multi-nationals such as Amazon.com “threaten the job market and economy” when people opt to purchase overseas via the Internet.
St. Maarten is a not party to international trade agreements and even if the country was it had nothing to trade, said the Minister. To counter this, he said focus needs to be placed on bettering the country’s tourism product “to make it second to none.
“New, innovative and effective ways,” need to be found to sustain the economy and to create jobs, he stated.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/59930-chinese-to-develop-326-room-hotel-450-apartments-in-belair
Time to find a new island for Canadian tourist
What business will they be running from St Maarten …… personally St Maarten should stand up for St Maarten…Chinese run resturants with only Chinese….does anybody get that !
This is a perfect example of none sustainable development. This is crazy
As a long time visitor of sxm with all the issues facing this small part of the world its foolish and destructive to add more capacity without adding upgraded infustructure electric roads propper patking and all othet infustructure issues if you the best of sxm can be viewed in the rear view mirror it future in question
“We have struck the jackpot,” the minister said, adding that the Chinese have promised to generate at least one million Chinese tourists annually to the country.”
1 million per year. Really? You need 2500 boeings 747 to move 1 million passengers. 48 per Saturday or 7 full flights every day. Our airport can not handle this. We don’t even have the fuel facilities to begin with, let alone the resources and infrastructure to move an additional 2800 people every day to and from the airport. Besides, from China it is a 25 hour flight with at least one stop. Not really a breeze and I doubt there are airlines that have the extra capacity on that route. And then, the average person produces around 1 pound of poop per day. That is 1 million pounds or 463.000 kilos of additional poop per year. That is a lot of sh.t. In short, this is completely impossible.
Exactly, simple maths will tell you the Minister is blowing smoke up our behinds.
Yea someone in the government has the jackpot but not the sxm people
How can you negotiate with people who don’t speak English and who have a representative who does not speak Chinese?
Blue Mall was a so call great investment too. To generate work for locals. Ask anybody that work down there the real deal. Now it is turning into a hotel if you please. What is really going on we dont learn?!?
The old saying that “all that glitters isn’t gold” shouldn’t be ignored in this case.
No one is suggesting a massive capital investment into the island wouldn’t be welcome…but at what cost? We only need to look to our neighbors the Bahamas to see the mess that was created by throwing the doors open to enormous capital investment by the Chinese that may ultimately affect the creditworthiness of the entire country. Standard & Poor’s, has already lowered its Bahamas rating to BBB- and warned it could be heading for junk. Is that what we want?
That project, Baha-Mar on the outskirts of Nassau, was hugely overbuilt and now sits empty and fenced off awaiting its day in bankruptcy court. Here, as there it’s expected the Chinese will invest ALL the money and logically will control the entire project. That means, as was the case in Nassau, they will demand the majority of the work force will have to be Chinese. How does that benefit the local person?
This Belair proposal is a massive project consisting of nearly 800 new dwelling units. And we’re expecting they’re going to fill it with Chinese executives??? They didn’t do that in the Bahamas why would they do that here?
There are abundant news stories documenting the failure of the Baha-Mar project. This is just one
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-04/the-ghosts-of-baha-mar-how-a-3-5-billion-paradise-went-bust
The government’s time would be better spent nurturing a home grown development group in Simpson Bay that continues to hit one road block after another in getting their project off the ground.
We’ve been developing quality real estate projects on St Maarten for over 30 years and our reputation is unblemished. We don’t have law suits against us and all our projects are finished and successful. We have no angry or disgruntled buyers. Yet an overseas investor group that has already proven their willingness to play hard ball and walk away from a project, jeopardizing jobs and the local economy can somehow get to the front of the line and get everything they want.
We consider this unfair and prejudicial treatment.
It’s a shame that Government treats local investors like cockroaches and lays the red carpet for shady foreign investors!
SXM needs to be very careful with doing business with China. Just look at what happened in the Bahamas with what was announced as their biggest hotel (Bahamar) to date with even new highways and access roads being built to accommodate that new hotel. A complete Chinese construction crew was brought in, zero local involvement (apart from ofcourse the local kickbacks being paid). Read the horror story here: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-04/the-ghosts-of-baha-mar-how-a-3-5-billion-paradise-went-bust
And it still is not open up to today. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/international-business/article71226497.html
They should check what is happening in Dominica. The chinese will not higher locals. They also get paid in China. This is not good for our taxes and social security.
I mean hire.