Jamaica
News - Real Estate - Tourism (November
20,
2004)
PM announces 1,500-room hotel for Lucea
Prime Minister P J
Patterson yesterday announced that plans are well advanced for the
acquisition of a property on the eastern side of the Lucea harbour
in Hanover for the construction of a 1,500-room five-star hotel by
a Spanish hotel chain.
Patterson did not give a
timetable for the development of the project, but said that he
hoped that it would get off the ground before he demits office.
Patterson has long made it clear that he would retire before the
next general elections, which are constitutionally due in 2007 is
held.
"I am not going to give any
inkling as to timetable but I am hoping to be at least here to
break ground," the prime minister told the large gathering at
the commissioning of the $2.2 billion Great River/Lucea Water
supply project.
Yesterday's announcement by the
prime minister is the latest of several overseas projects
announced recently for the north and western sections of the
island.
Projects already announced include
the $72- billion complex in Harmony Cove, Trelawny; an 850-room
hotel in Oyster Bay, St Ann, as well as the Pinero group's 600
room property at Pear Tree River, St Ann; and a $5.3-million hotel
in the Rose Hall area of St James.
Patterson also told yesterday's
function that design work for the construction of the Lucea
Shipping Pier was progressing satisfactorily, and that
negotiations were taking place for the acquisition of a parcel of
land to facilitate the development.
In June, Transport and Works
Minister Robert Pickersgill announced in Parliament that the Ports
Authority of Jamaica was planning to build a cruise ship facility
in Lucea.
At that time he said that the
technical studies for the project had been completed and the Port
Authority was about to have the drawings done.
"I am sure that the
development of this part of Hanover between the harbour and the
hotel makes progress for Lucea and its environs
irreversible," said the prime minister.
The Great River/Lucea water
supply project was completed three months before schedule and
within budget. It involved the expansion of the capacity of the
New Great River Water Treatment Plant from 10 million gallons per
day to 15 million gallons daily.
Works included the laying of 22
kilometres of 500-mm diameter pipeline along side the roadway from
the water treatment plant on the St James/ Hanover border to
Lucea.
The project was financed by BNP
Paribas of France, National Commercial Bank and Pan Caribbean
Financial Services, as well as through buyer credit guarantees
from the French pipe manufacturing firm Pont a Mousson.
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