Minister of Tourism Carlos James, told parliament last week, that the government has noted the slow pace of construction at Black Sands Resort and made it clear to investors that the administration expects to see some movement on the project soon.
Investors from Canada, PACE Developments, who broke ground on the project in 2017, have yet to complete any part of the resorts five years after they promised a 24-30 month construction span.
Speaking in parliament last week, James said there were some delays during the pandemic.
“I’m told that just when they were about to ramp up their construction, they were slowed down by the COVID 19 pandemic, which has had some global economic impact. Actually, a meeting was originally scheduled between the government and the CEO of PACE Development Mr Joseph Romano”, however, there was a delay.”
“Apparently, there was a delay in this meeting due to a person considered important to the discussions being unable to travel at that time. As a result, the meeting has been rescheduled for later this month, hopefully in the coming weeks”.
On Sunday 6 March, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves told WEFM’s Issues at Hand program that Pace Development St. Vincent Inc. Chairman Joseph L. Romano was scheduled to arrive in St. Vincent on 19 March to lay out the new timeline for completing Black Sands Resorts at Peter’s Hope.
In the call, Gonsalves said that he understood that unforeseen circumstances hindered the progress of the resorts, but that more could have been done.
Minister James said developers have committed to coming up with new timelines.
“If any changes are made to the project, I would wait until the conclusion of those scheduled meetings to state so. That’s the most responsible thing to do. While I understand some of the timelines, I would like to see how Pace Development, the company, and the government officials intend to restructure and refocus the project going forward”.
The project, according to James, is not dead, but it is very much alive.
Currently, ten structures are under construction, and they’re more than just rooms; they’re multi-functional, James stated.
“There are ten villas with several rooms each, and they add to the existing 250 rooms in the project. However, in a few weeks, the scope and dimensions of this project and the timelines may very well change”.
“In the meeting in a few weeks with pace development, we will flesh out whether it is a positive outcome, whether they need to scale down, restructure, or increase”.
“It’s true that the developers were granted alien landholding licences, and there are certain levers that can be pulled if the project comes to a halt. However, we’ve not reached that stage yet, and I’m hoping we won’t reach that point in terms of how we proceed with this development” James told parliament.
In February of 2021, Pace Developments St. Vincent Inc. denied allegations made by the then (News784) depicting them as having received about $300 million in European investors’ money, which, according to information, was destined for the project, but never used.
The project is divided into three phases; each phase has ten villas with five rooms in each. In phases two and three, an additional 250 rooms will be added to the hotel block. The project is being financed 100% by PACE Development SVG Inc.
