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US $2.6 b. Project For Vieux Fort

Image: Prime Minister Allen Chastanet, DSH Chairman Teo Ah Khing and Minister Bradley Felix signing the agreement yesterday.[PHOTO: Stan Bishop]
Prime Minister Allen Chastanet, DSH Chairman Teo Ah Khing and Minister Bradley Felix signing the agreement yesterday.[PHOTO: Stan Bishop]
THE perennial lament that the island’s southern quadrant has been short on development is likely to become a thing of the past following a major development project earmarked for that area, announced yesterday.

Prime Minister Allen Chastanet and Chairman of Desert Star Holdings Ltd, Teo Ah Khing, signed an agreement that should pave the way for a US$2.6 billion international standard integrated development.

Dubbed “Pearl of the Caribbean”, the major multifaceted 700-acre project will include a marina, racecourse, resort and shopping mall complex, casino, free trade zone, extensive entertainment and leisure facilities and over 1500 architecturally-designed villas and apartments.

Commencement on the project’s initial phase is slated for next year, pending approvals and other logistical matters to be ironed out by the Citizenship by Investment Unit (CIU) and the Development Control Authority (DCA).

The Prime Minister said Teo’s vision for the project dovetails with the island’s continued search for economic viability, sustainability and social equity with its partnership, adding that the venture will provide thousands of Saint Lucians with jobs.

“The Government of Saint Lucia feels satisfied that this investment will be a key driver for the south and a catalyst for further investment in the southern part of the island,” Chastanet said.

In order to facilitate the investors, Chastanet said government will amend the Citizenship by Investment Act so that key aspects of the project are accommodated in the current categories.

“The horse racing aspect of the project, which is central to its lifestyle component, needs to be incorporated within the categories of an approved project – not on its own but within the broader context of an integrated project and not solely based on hotel construction,” Chastanet explained.

Government will also review the limitation on applications (which currently stands at 500 per year) prescribed by the CIP legislation, thereby allowing the quantum of approvals to be based on policy considerations.

The Prime Minister said the processing time for applications made under the CIP will be expedited after approvals have been granted without foregoing the due diligence factor.

Chastanet said the project has been on the table for over a year now and the road to yesterday’s signing gained traction after he met with Teo within his first week in office. When asked why the signing of the agreement was signed at this time, he told reporters he had not a clue.

Image: Prime Minister Allen Chastanet, DSH Chairman Teo Ah Khing and Minister Bradley Felix believe the major investment is a win-win for the island and the investor. [PHOTO: Stan Bishop]
Prime Minister Allen Chastanet, DSH Chairman Teo Ah Khing and Minister Bradley Felix believe the major investment is a win-win for the island and the investor. [PHOTO: Stan Bishop]
“I don’t know why the project had not proceeded quicker because in all reviews of it, it really is a project that, I think, can change the paradigm here in Saint Lucia,” Chastanet said.

Chastanet said that prior to the signing ceremony, the DSH team made a presentation of their plans to Cabinet as well as the chairpersons of CIP Board, SLTB, DCA, Investment Board and Winston Trim, whose family has operated Trim’s Riding Stables for over 60 years.

The project is being touted as a major attraction for leisure travellers from throughout the region and the wider world. One of the investors’ aims is to further promote the island as an exquisite touristic destination.

“I truly believe that this is going to further enhance the viability of expanding the airport (and) making sure that we have the cruise ship berth in the south, Chastanet said.”

The first phase of “Pearl of the Caribbean” is expected to begin six months after the granting of requisite approval with the construction of the horse racing track. The second phase, the building of the hotel, is expected to last for two years. A third phase, the university campus, is among the ambitious plans.

Minister for Investment, Bradley Felix, said unemployed young men in the south can now profit the opportunity to learn a skill, especially in the equestrian industry, a pastime of Vieux Fort.

“In discussion with Teo and the team, we recognized that for every thoroughbred, we need at least four or five people to take care of them. So the opportunities are endless and not just limited to the equestrian aspect,” Felix said.

Malaysian-born to Chinese parents, Teo, who is also Chairman of DSH Caribbean Star, said he was pleased to make the major investment in Saint Lucia, adding that the island stands to benefit immensely from the project. Among his many achievements is designing and building the iconic Meydan Racecourse for the 2010 Dubai World Cup.

“As investors from the Far East, we believe that this is a very win-win situation: that we can contribute our expertise, our resources, our know-how and work together with a very dedicated Cabinet team led by the Prime Minister to deliver this promise to the people of Saint Lucia and the region,” the self-made billionaire said.

Stan Bishop began his career in journalism in March 2008 writing freelance for The VOICE newspaper for six weeks before being hired as a part-time journalist there when one of the company’s journalists was overseas on assignment.

Although he was initially told that the job would last only two weeks, he was able to demonstrate such high quality work that the company offered him a permanent job before that fortnight was over. Read full bio...

30 Comments

    1. DONALD TRUMP

      Here’s your reward for being a loyal sambo. Trump’s wife is having what we call, “A NEXT”, but I think Americans and the pervert Priests in the Homeless Shelter Presbytery just call it PORN. Here’s the Caucasian woman Melania Trump, TOONEE, that you Black Pete, Rickets John Wayne, and boog fooh-ah, Ezekiel Jeannine Joseph can make a NEXT on the Choc beach. Mrs Melanine Donald Trump Toonee – Father Linus Clovis you can join the orgie to give your “Pam” a rest.

      https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/melania_-_copie_2.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=664

      .

      1. DM first lady to be…….SOM, is that thing what one of your 3 madams look like. smh, she looks sick to me. SOM, enjoy your black coffee with cream.

  1. Wow!
    No dissection for comprehensive analysis- any aspect?
    Just the typical spit labou et courir…….
    Poor jab…..St.Lucia
    Not even a what is in the TRICKLE DOWN gutters and troughs for the denizens of Animal Farm in paradise?
    I know, maids, gardeners and cashier workforce is assured;
    I wonder if HNBC bank is sole central bank derivative underwriter.
    I wonder if the large pool of ADDICTIVE Looshans (gorgeres, sexaholics, et al ) are gonna be restricted from decimating their meager purses on on horse racing & casino)
    Are the residents of villas (certainly designed for an opulent international clientele) have bona fide access to automatic CITIZENSHIP.
    Is this a long term LEASE of prime national /crown land or an outright deeded sale of said land- FOREVER GONE with the North Easterly Trade Winds.
    Just keeping it real-
    Sincerely,
    The Real Deal

  2. Monsieur King minister of St Lucia’s working stiffs;
    Please strap on a pair of Titanium gonads, then negotiate for at least 100 % of the hospitality services………the Pacific islanders (HQ Manilla) are eager beavers on the international market. Note how they have carved out a dominant share of the cruise ship hospitality sector?
    As per historic precedence following the yoke of colonialism, international contracts and negotiations have never approached EQUITABLE terms for St. Lucian patrimony.
    And in the dry desert of economic despair even familial CANNIBALISM can be accepted among the mobs in their quest to SATIATE their parched thirst in the soaring tropical heat- amidst a most auspicious trickle down economic project.
    The Real Deal

  3. Sounds too good to be true. Half of the villas at Cap Estate are already long time for sale. Hardly any buyers. Looks like the planned 50 Billion Dollar canal of Nicaragua. Also a guy from Hongkong. Le Paradis, the golf course villa luxury complex at Cap Estate and many more projects failed or never have been finished.

  4. I have heard of swindlers, hoaxers, bluffers, scam artist, hijackers, but Allen Chastanet is a New Brand of kleptomaniac. 2.666 billion US dollars? What a Hoax, and this hoaxster is not in prison. A horse racing track made of gold, that is scheduled for completion in the year 2099 when the Atlantic will cover the flatlands of the “Mang”.

    How The Chastanet Crime Family stole the Pitons:

    https://www.facebook.com/BlackHistoryRevealed/videos/444076735795950/

    .

  5. Building establishment that will be primarily use for gambling purposes are counter productive to the economic development of any country.
    People may hastily jump to defend “their rights of choice ” to such leisure’s. However overall these gaming establishments drains the budgets of struggling low income families with the false hope that it may be their passageway to financial freedom.
    Less than 1% of the public are beneficiaries from these leisurely enticed trappings. The true benefactors are the establish owners, investors and criminal organizations.
    The public I easily wooed into believing that the introduction of these leisures will benefit the public at large by generating extra capital, which in part will be used to better develop communities.
    A total misleading and completely false selling point by the investors who from all research know that such statements are false and misleading.
    Take a walk less than a mile from the neon flashing lights of Las Vegas and witness the slum life that is never showed on television to the world. Atlantic city is now a ghost city after being pillage by syndicated gambling rings and business investors who financially drained the city of its capital over time.
    It is was to fantasize about the short term possibility of quick riches. However the reality hand history has taught us that it is a selling point that business cob artists use to further pillage the poor and hard working families of their little income to further line their personal pickets of wealth.
    And yes I do expect many negative back lashes because truth and reality is much too difficult to accept by most. Especially those confused of the definition of freedom or citizens rights.

  6. This amounts to nothing but the gentrification of the island.; a resurgence of the nasty habits of colonialism are fully in play,. As usual, the natives will be left holding the shitty end of the stick while despots satiate their lust for land grabbing, government sponsored prostitution of the youth of the island and the formation of an under class striken with crime and poverty in the villages; a place for gros mom salle to pick their prey
    Those billions would have been we’ll spent on health care and education of the people. St. Jude is crying to Heavn for restitution!

  7. This amounts to nothing but the gentrification of the island.; a resurgence of the nasty habits of colonialism are fully in play,. As usual, the natives will be left holding the shitty end of the stick while despots satiate their lust for land grabbing, government sponsored prostitution of the youth of the island and the formation of an under class striken with crime and poverty in the villages; a place for gros nome salle to pick their prey
    Those billions would have been we’ll spent on health care and education of the people. St. Jude is crying to Heaven for restitution!

  8. /

    Today as Negroes claim to be “celebrating ” their so-called freedom while still under the boot of white supremacy and mis-education, it is only prudent to remember it was this lowlife criminal Allen Chastanet and the Chastanet Crime Syndicate who ordered you to “FORGET SLAVERY but REMEMBER THE JEWISH CONCENTRATION CAMPS” while deceiving you into electing his cabal of deviants making him monarch over their Black Children.

    Now this evil Chastanet Crime syndicate of white supremacists along with their Sambo Negroes Rickets John Wayne, Black Pete and their Lajahbles and Boloms have promised you victims of the worshipers of Lucifer, this naked Caucasian whose flesh you eat and blood you drink to become “White” in his image, a gambling Race Track, and the Mafia Mobsters that will undoubtedly be an appendage to this evil, intended to attract the most infernal souls of the Caucasians and their imps to turn your daughters into prostitutes.

    There is deafening silence from the Lajahbles Sarah Flood whose moral barometer rises to nothing past the Penis and vaginas with such obvious hypocrisy, as she has sold her immortal soul for the emissions of horses and Donkey dicks/ lolo boowick. An arrangement made with the blessings of the strange Homeless Perverts who have taken residence in the Presbytery where these socially maladjusted men indulge in watching Porn while masturbating day and night, homosexuality, rape, pedophilia and alcohol abuse while wearing costumes from the era of the virgin queen.

  9. +

    Ezekiel 23

    New International Version (NIV)
    Two Adulterous Sisters

    1. The word of the Lord came to me:

    2. “Son of man, there were two women, daughters of the same mother.

    3. They became prostitutes in Egypt, engaging in prostitution from their youth. In that land their breasts were fondled and their virgin bosoms caressed.

    4. The older was named Oholah, and her sister was Oholibah. They were mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

    5. “Oholah engaged in prostitution while she was still mine; and she lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians—warriors

    6. clothed in blue, governors and commanders, all of them handsome young men, and mounted horsemen.

    7. She gave herself as a prostitute to all the elite of the Assyrians and defiled herself with all the idols of everyone she lusted after.

    8. She did not give up the prostitution she began in Egypt, when during her youth men slept with her, caressed her virgin bosom and poured out their lust on her.

    9. “Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, the Assyrians, for whom she lusted.

    10. They stripped her naked, took away her sons and daughters and killed her with the sword. She became a byword among women, and punishment was inflicted on her.

    11. “Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet in her lust and prostitution she was more depraved than her sister.

    12. She too lusted after the Assyrians—governors and commanders, warriors in full dress, mounted horsemen, all handsome young men.

    13. I saw that she too defiled herself; both of them went the same way.

    14. “But she carried her prostitution still further. She saw men portrayed on a wall, figures of Chaldeans[a] portrayed in red,

    15. with belts around their waists and flowing turbans on their heads; all of them looked like Babylonian chariot officers, natives of Chaldea.[b]

    16. As soon as she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea.

    17. Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and in their lust they defiled her. After she had been defiled by them, she turned away from them in disgust.

    18. When she carried on her prostitution openly and exposed her naked body, I turned away from her in disgust, just as I had turned away from her sister.

    19. Yet she became more and more promiscuous as she recalled the days of her youth, when she was
    a prostitute in Egypt.

    20. There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses.

    21. So you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when in Egypt your bosom was caressed and your young breasts fondled.[c]

  10. “Dubbed “Pearl of the Caribbean”, the major multifaceted 700-acre project will include a marina, racecourse, resort and shopping mall complex, casino, free trade zone, extensive entertainment and leisure facilities and over 1500 architecturally-designed villas and apartments.”

    No more shopping malls, casinos and imports please.
    We need MANUFACTURING and EXPORT badly.

  11. Though I hate being political but the ones who only stand to benefit from this totally lopsided deal are the politicians who sign this pact.
    They will be given perks in various forms to assure that the deal goes through. In actuality, they were presented with such perks as incentives in signing such deal.
    Absolutely heartless. Any basic preliminary research work would never win the approval of a political who truly belives in bettering the lives of his people

  12. This deal will take the Islam of St. Lucia back to the stone age, a few decades from now.
    If anyone believes they have witnessed an escalation in crime of recent, wait until this plan becomes a reality and we will have a better understanding of criminal activities and what it I to live in fear. Tho is more than a nightmare waiting to happen.
    However, the callous politicians will make the public believe that this is a golden opportunity to break great barriers and make St. Lucia a proud and competitive nation…
    However this agreement I similar to the Biblical reenactment of king Belchaza in the Story of Daniel and the writing on the wall.

  13. There is an old saying. Never accept money as a generous gift from the MAFIA. Later, they will request a favor of you. One that if you refuse will you your life or worse yet yours and that of your family.
    Think why soul the Chinese government generously donate 2.6 Billion dollars out of total kindheartedness, expecting nothing in return. Or any government or businessman for that matter. Like the mafia there is always an underlining agenda.. Basic common sense 101…

    1. OBSERVER

      Everything is Political and Religious, so stop saying how you hate being political. The mere act of being able to express opinions in the Voice of Saint Lucia is governed by politics and religion.

      I think you are on point when you equate this so-called “DEAL” with Mafiosos, and shows you are “reading between the lines”. This whole charade stinks, and knowing The Chastanet Crime Syndicate only assures me that this is Organized Crime taking over the Island. SO WHAT HAPPENED TO MISS GOODy TWO-SHOES. The Birth control Queen Sarah Palin Flood?

      Es E Ped Voir-ah? has she lost her voice ? maybe she sold her soul to LUCIFER CHASTANET.

  14. “some men in the south can now profit”? so women can’t learn anything to do with the equestrian industry Mr. Felix? Our politicians need to be mindful of the things they say and the implications. Your sexist ways can come out when you least expect it.

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