Government refutes casino developers’ claim

The Grenada government has refuted claims by Swedish developers Zublin that it refused to meet with them to discuss a multi-million-dollar tourism project on the island.

“I do not reject meetings with anyone. I am quite prepared and quite comfortable meeting any perspective investor, listening to their proposals and initiatives, and responding in a responsible way,” Finance Minister Nizam Burke told the Caribbean Media Corporation.

“I do not see any need to pursue a meeting with Zublin at this time. If Zublin wishes to have a meeting, I am open and available at all times.”

Zublin, whose St George’s Renaissance project was rejected by the Tillman Thomas administration, said it had been ignored by the government following a presentation made to the Cabinet nearly a year ago on the project.

Zublin recently withdrew a proposal to build an EC$450 million (US$168.5 million) project involving a new cruise, ship jetty, a four-star hotel and tourism entertainment area after the government turned down the project, saying that it could not come up with EC$150 million (US$56.1 million) in public financing.

Strongly worded letter

In a strongly worded letter sent to Works Minister Joseph Gilbert, Zublin criticised the government’s behaviour as “unacceptable”.

The Swedish developers, which currently operate a cruise-ship terminal and duty-free shopping mall completed after the passage of Hurricane Ivan in 2004, say it is no longer interested in investing in Grenada.

It alleges that potential foreign investors were losing their appetite to do business on the island.

But Burke said that the government’s responsibility is to balance the interest of the various stakeholders, including the public.

“We are not going to comment on their decision to invest or not to invest. Those are business decisions. Whatever decisions any company in Grenada makes regarding its business choices are entirely within the domain of that company,” he added.

Zublin is among five companies which have been prequalified to develop port facilities in Barbados. It has also been granted preferred-bidder’s status for the construction of a Marriott Hotel in Guyana.

– CMC