by S Brian Samuel
There is a long history of failed mega-projects at Mount Hartman and Hog Island, including the ‘bridge to nowhere’, excellently recounted by Leon Taylor[1].
This current incarnation, sixth in 35 years, incudes all the usual mega-resort embellishments: “USD2 billion development includes a boutique retail village, a waterpark, a casino and a marina operation on site to complement the hotels and real estate portions of the property.” But what really stands out, with eye-popping amazement, is its design: a shining monument to crassness and bad taste.
I’m speechless, dumbstruck with revulsion, at the thought of this massive monstrosity, that would dominate the entire southern end of Grenada – are we mad? What part of this eyesore bears even the tiniest resemblance, to ‘Pure Grenada’, our so-called marketing brand? Out of which window did we conveniently toss that out? Plain and simple: this so-called architectural design is hideous, completely out of place in Grenada. An opinion that will be shared, I’m sure, by every single tourist who’s ever been to Grenada before: they want to get away from that kind of mass-market nightmare, not see Grenada become one!
A word about numbers. Developers and politicians love to toss big numbers around like candy: US$2 billion here, US$4 billion there – your head spins. Coming back to earth just for a minute, can we put this into some kind of context: Do you know what is Grenada’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP)? In 2020, the sum total of all economic activity in Grenada amounted to US$1.04 billion[2]. So, we are to believe that one project, alone, will double Grenada’s entire economy, never mind all the other billion-dollar babies in the CBI belly. Where will twice the consumption of water going to come from? Electricity, ports, roads, plus the one that developers love to forget about: garbage and sewage disposal? Are we really that gullible, to believe these outlandish claims? More to the point: how many passports would we have to sell, to raise $2 billion? Do the math: 9,000. More or less. That’s an awful lot of nouveau Grenadians. What if they decide to move here?
For such a large, transformative project, there is a shocking lack of information, on the people behind it, Grenada Resort Complex, Ltd[3]. Their website is in Russian, and none of the principals has any online presence. Mount Hartman is not ‘any old beach’ (in fact there is no beach). It is a National Park and Bird Sanctuary, a rapidly dwindling piece of ‘Pure Grenada’. Every citizen should demand to know: to whom are we entrusting our national treasure? A company name, a website in Russian, faceless names, no online presence – that’s all we’re told? This appalling lack of transparency and disclosure is a major cause for concern, if not alarm.
We may not know anything about the people behind it, but we know one thing: construction is well underway.
But, even at this late stage, one has to ask: construction of what? In the little information provided by the mystery backers, we hear the usual: hotel, boutique retail village, waterpark, casino, marina – plus this mysterious claim, which no one at SGU I’ve spoken to knows anything about: “Grenada Resort will include the development of a dedicated medical district which will be pioneering in the region involving a new hospital that will have operating synergies with St. Georges University School of Medicine.” A new hospital, is this public or private? Without Title IV, any medical school is a non-starter for US students, so whom will they be attracting? A silly question: are hospitals and 5-star resorts ‘naturally compatible neighbours’? And finally: a casino? I must have been sleeping, when did that law get passed?
Finally, just like at La Sagesse, there’s the location. As any Grenadian will tell you, that stretch of coastline is wild, beautiful, but it’s not what you would typically call ‘tourist territory’. For starters, there’s no beach. The National Park is ringed on 3 sides by dense mangroves. Are they planning to create a beach? In other words, destroy the mangroves?
[1] https://nowgrenada.com/2020/09/a-bridge-too-far/
[2] https://data.worldbank.org/country/GD
[3] https://www.linkedin.com/company/grenada-resort-complex-ltd/about/
Wasn’t there a rule of the tallest tree?
When you PM told the country that gas had been discovered in Grenada waters did he approach BP or Shell or some well funded knowledgeable company for a production sharing agreement?. NO. He did deal with an unknown GPG is a locally formed company, for the sole purpose of entering into the oil and gas agreements with our Government. and at the time of signing the PSA with our government, GPG had absolutely no experience, expertise or history in the petroleum industry. It is now allegedly a
Russian company of just 9 employees and turnover of less that a million dollars a year, with no finance, no experience and someone somewhere is taking us all for fools. Guess who?
The fact that Grenada is unspoilt, is the main reason tourist’s are attracted to Grenada, why are we allowing outsiders to spoil our island.
This is very sad both my parents were Grenadians, I grew up there and holiday ever so often, why are we allowing the Government to pull the wool over our eyes, my eldest child recently applied for a passport and was denied, what will happen to our future generations who are Grenadians by heritage not by money?instead the government is selling out our island to the highest bidder, what would become of our local residents.
This is wrong, we must try and stop this.
Grenada is now For Sale Only. Nothing Pure about it but Pollution.
Thanks for spelling this out in plain English. For those interested, more pictures of the stadiums, casino, waterpark, etc are on this site: https://thepropertyawards.com/winner-info.php?id=199
it’s also upsetting that neither of the main political parties are talking about this, not even NDC’s new starboy…
Please Note: This is the earlier & now the old English version – when Charles Liu attempted to spearhead Hartman Project – as he was on the run as Federal Fugitive.
It gas since taken on a totally Russian control – and with the Sanctions on Russia; this is really playing with Fire and indeed a dangerous situation. More details in GND BLOG.
My heart bleeds for this country… oh God what are we letting our politicians do to this island… They let our history, such as York House, Government House or the Scots Kirk rot away and fall apart, while they bulldoze our nature to replace it with doomed to fail, hideous mega projects…
Grenadians in the Diaspora as well as those living locally in Grenada surely must see the kind of House of Cards these snake charmer deals becoming.
Russian Rubles are especially now highly Sanctioned / High Risk Deals.
CBI Program is not above the Law -: even though run by shady characters within the government & its agencies.
JP Morgan recently listed Grenada as high risk of possible debt default – it not being far from Junk Bond status as Haiti is. What are we coming to be ?
The “ Hartman $ Two Billion Project “ originated from Charles Liu and it likely snaked it’s way back to him via his Federal Fugitive hiding domain – with even the assistance of the Embassy of Grenada to the Russian Federation; it being namely under the whims of their mystery man & named Ambassador Oleg Firer, his fast Rise from the Edge of Sex Scams in Miami on to Moscow is still the work of confidence games !
We are preparing our own Affidavit of these ongoing and repeat super shady activities in Grenada and same will be formally filed with global interests. It may be the basis for Blacklisting to help curb the government corruption.
Thank you for raising the mant practical concerns if these ridiculous ugly developments which should be renamed destruction instead. I am a longterm tourist to Grenada and all the nature I fell in love with on my first visit, which kept me returning, have fallen to the bulldozers. I scream and cry at the STUPIDITY of the politicians on Grenada who fail to see the big picture and patronise all the climate conscious agencies as they destroy the very environmental areas that combat climate change.
As toothed rotten Russians, that was a no brainer to begin with. Their investments have also been dirty money for an eternity. Thus construction needs to be halted under INTERNATIONAL sanctions.
There surely appears to be real Russian based influence with the CBI sales promotions as well as sneaky ongoing moves by Charles Liu.
Further concern, just how deep is H.E, Oleg Firer with in. Fires fuel rumors & smoke is rising.
Might be noteworthy that there are major global Sanctions against Russia and these here activities will draw serious counter actions.
This we will bring to attention of Transparency International & global interests for review.