By L.K. Hewlett
St. Kitts Reporter
Nevisians are reeling from the decision made by the Nevis Island Administration (NIA) to “greenlight” the Newfound Project.
Premier Hon. Joseph made the announcement at a press conference last week and said that he is satisfied with the terms and arrangements reached with the Canadian investment company.
“The Nevis Island Administration has been in discussion with Newfound for quite a few months now. We feel we have reached a deal that is mutually beneficial so now we can move on from there. Under the agreement reached, the concession rights have been reduced from thirty years to twenty years. Also 172 acres of land have been returned to the people of Nevis at a cost of 2 million US dollars reducing the overall price from 21 million US dollars to 19 million dollars,” Parry announced.
He said that all historical sites will become the property of government and Newfound had agreed to assist in establishing a vocational school to train persons in tourism related fields. Newfound, he said, had also agreed that they would assist with sending Nevisians overseas to be trained to occupy middle management and upper managements positions in the proposed hotel project. This, Parry said, meant that Nevisians would not only be working at the lower end of the hotel chain.
The initial negotiations had Newfound proposing to construct a villa development on the 600 acres of land they were attempting to purchase at Pinney’s Estate. Brian Dobbin, Chief Executive Officer of Newfound said that his company had reconsidered that project and would instead develop a five star ‘retreat’ type of resort on the property along with high end recreational facilities and spas.
Parry said that as per the agreement between Newfound and NIA, that the doors of the new hotel would be open to receive guests by January 2010. Worldwide, a Starwood Brand of hotel will be constructing the resort.
Parry went on to say under the agreement, there would be no clauses to hinder the development of land by the NIA.
“While we must take into consideration what development we do say as not to devalue the property of Newfound and at the same time we can go ahead and do the development of the island. Whether we sell the land, develop it ourselves or whether Nevisians are allowed to live there, that is a decision that we are going to make in the future. Newfound has also agreed to work closely with us in seeking to attract another here in Nevis. It may or may not happen; they are not bound by it and neither is NIA,” Parry stated.
We want to ensure that we are firmly entrenched in the upper end of the tourism market. We already have the reputation so we want to consolidate and enhance that reputation so Nevisians can rest assured that we will be watching very closely to ensure that we maintain that position.\rdblquote
On of the revelations Parry said is bound to make the people of Nevis a little more receptive to the development, is the fact that the beaches will remain public.
“Newfound and the Four Seasons Resort will be working with us to try to enhance and expand the beach by 200 feet or more. Newfound has also agreed that the property will be built back from the shoreline to comply with the island’s policy that buildings should be at least 100 feet from the shoreline. Some modifications have been made to the policy because of certain conditions and circumstances. People have said to us that they do not want to be intimidated or be unable to bathe on their own beaches. So this was very important to us,” he said.
Parry said at the end of the development, what Nevis would have had was a first class hotel, employing Nevisians and enhancing the tourism industry and the economy of Nevis.
