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BY KEVA
LIGHTBOURNE,GUARDIAN STAFF REPORTER
As the Bimini Bay
project begins to pick up steam, The Guardian has been
reliably informed that the developer and the
government are set to sign a new five-year Heads of
Agreement (HOA). It is understood that the existing
Heads of Agreement will expire sometime around year's
end.
"We have had a
series of productive meetings with the various
government agencies we are dealing with, and we hope
to sign a new Heads of Agreement shortly," said
Valentine Grimes, the lawyer for the developer, during
a telephone interview with The Guardian on Tuesday.
"My client is very, very satisfied with the tenor
of discussions that have been taken place with the
government. This new Heads of Agreement will put us in
a more up-to-date scheduling as compared to where we
are with the Heads of Agreement, which is due to
expire at the end of this year."
It was disclosed
that once the HOA has been completed, Bimini Bay
developer Geraldo Capo will be able to finalise the
arrangements with a hotel casino operator within a
six-month time frame.
Gerald Capo's $100
million, 700-acre Bimini Bay development project was
approved by the Free National Movement (FNM)
administration in July 1997. Today, the venture is
being hailed as a possible blueprint for other
developments in the country.
The project has
been laden with a number of financial setbacks and
faced allegations of environmental degradation. After
touring the site in March, Ambassador to the
Environment Keod Smith, gave the project the green
light to continue after meeting several environmental
requirements outlined by the Bahamas Environmental
Science and Technology (BEST) Commission.
"I feel
comfortable in saying that I am satisfied that the
company has come more in line with compliance than it
was before with the standards that we have set, and we
will be making recommendations that the project
certainly be allowed to continue along that
line," Smith said at the time. "And, I am
just hopeful that the environmental management plan
that is to be put in place along with all of the many
other things where they were either undertaken or soft
negotiations with the project proposal that we are
able to certainly see those things come to fruition
and bring a standard of environment protection and
conservation to development, so that we can get closer
to that whole esoteric concept of sustainable
development that we have been focus and trying to
reach for so long."
The terms of a
five-years Heads of Agreement under the FNM specified
the construction of a hotel of not less than 200
rooms, residential subdivisions, a marina capable of
handling more than 150 boats, an 18-hole golf course,
a commercial centre, gourmet restaurants, a boutique,
a health spa, a marine shop, tennis courts, children's
play area, and a 10,000 square-foot casino.
However, as
residents and environmentalists expressed sustained
reservations of over possible degradation to Bimini's
ecology, it was announced that the project had been
significantly reduced.
The first phase of
the project will include 350 rental units of which 71
units are constructed, a golf course and casino and
hotel with approximately 600 rooms.
"The project
is progressing satisfactorily," commented Grimes.
In his budget
communication last week, Prime Minister Perry Christie
listed the Bimini Bay project as one of many that
would boost the country's economy. "The
international economic recovery and the upsurge in
investment in The Bahamas, particularly the
implementation of the $1 billion Atlantis project, the
major anchor resort developments emerging in the
Family Islands such as the Four Seasons/Emerald Bay
and Crab Cay resorts in Exuma, the Carnegie Club
Winding Bay Links Golf resorts and residential resorts
in Abaco, the revised environmentally sensitive Bimini
Bay resort and the many other investments projects
throughout The Bahamas, combined with the vigorous
resurgence of our financial services sector, are
transforming the outlook for the Bahamian
economy," the prime minister had said.
At the conclusion
of the Bimini Bay development, Capo's total investment
will exceed $100 million.
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