The Honourable Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister of Dominica, said that he was ‘excited’ at the prospect of the first internationally branded luxury hotel in Dominica.
He told a conference of Service Providers in Dubai that adding a real estate option to the country’s Citizenship-by-Investment programme had not been taken lightly.
Extensive due diligence was done on Range Developments, a Dubai-based developer, and all the rigorous due diligence proved overwhelmingly positive.
“I am proud to say that Range Developments’ Cabrits Kempinski Resort has met all the requirements and is the first approved project under our programme,” said Prime Minister Skerrit. “Range Developments have been more than a developer. Range is a genuine partner in development. Silver Beach Development and Tranquility Beach, branded by Curi of Hilton are at an advanced stage of negotiations. Discussions with a fourth developer, for Royal Dominica, are progressing satisfactorily. We expect to finalize negotiations within the coming weeks. We are also in active discussions with a few more project developers.”
The Cabrits Resort Kempinski Dominica, which is being developed by Range Developments, will be a 160-room hotel on Douglas Bay in Cabrits on the north shore of the island, close to the town of Portsmouth. Investors can obtain citizenship of the country by purchasing a share in the development for US$220,000 in a limited partnership structure.
The Prime Minister said that real estate projects must be designed in a manner that will ensure transparency and accountability to both investors and the Government and people of Dominica. The potential for these projects to generate economic activities and create jobs that are sustainable are also key requirements for approval.
He added that Dominica’s Citizen-by-Investment Unit has expanded over the past year, with new internal administrative policies and procedures that have led to greater efficiencies and even better levels of governance.
“We have eliminated the need for mandatory interviews for applicants and have streamlined the due diligence process while at the same time maintaining its integrity,” he said. “These efforts combined with our responsible governance have resulted in the expansion of visa-free and visa-on-arrival that bearers of Dominica passports enjoy to 120 countries. In May of this year we added the Schengen region of Europe. A few months ago we added Brazil. We intend to increase the number to at least 150 countries.”
However, he insisted that nothing would compromise the integrity of the country’s Citizenship-by-Investment programme.
“Dominica has always lived up to its international obligations to other countries and international organizations,” said the Prime Minister. “We therefore stand ready to cooperate with other countries to ensure peace and security throughout the world in a manner that respects non- interference in the domestic affairs of other countries and peaceful co-existence of nation states.
“As the Government, we provide an incentive to investors in approved projects through the issuance of a Dominica passport. As Prime Minister and chairman of the Cabinet of the Government of Dominica, I have ensured that our programme maintains the highest level of integrity while at the same time making the programme attractive to investors.”
Very good idea,but my word to the prime minister is build the international airport while the hotel is being built as an international airport is a highway to the rest of the world and build it in Tatan , Bellhall,and Lagon but you have to relocate some of those people in lagon who build their homes right on the street and claming is their land.
labourites need to read this. This a leader who wants to cut spending. on the other hand we a have a leader in Dominica who just wasting the country’s money away in over trips and fete
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/tanzanian-president-john-magufuli-picks-up-rubbish-from-street-instead-of-celebrating-independence-a6766706.html
This is very good t=for the island and the people. This will raise the status of the country and bring in much needed cash and foreign currency also. This will create employment and training to the young! Well done to Mr Prime Minister.
http://www.caribbeannewsnow.com/topstory-Millions-lost-in-failed-Turks-and-Caicos-development-25868.
htmlhttp://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2009/10/16/another-caribbean-resort-goes-belly-up
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324001104578163802872298918
When we talking about which islands have the most to offer the tourism industry is not Dominica we going to look at are we???
Does these people still believe they can ride on magic carpets??? If so then some miracle will happen for them until then we shall wait and see another failed endeavor,,,
Garçon Dominica is not no tourist destination like them \”White Sandy Beaches Islands\” Dominica is an agricultural producing land why can\’t allyou get that in allyou thick skull yet nuh,,,
Finish those projects allyou started already to know if allyou can invest in more before allyou start another failed experiment!!!
The people of Venezuela did something remarkable, while we here in Dominica are hiding behind a laptop belching bubbles. Shame on you Dominica. A leader’s inability and inefficiency is indicative of those who elected him. At this point I would say to us Dominicans; “Do something or say nothing.”
skerritt is no match for these Arabs. He thinks that he is a player in the big league. Never will be so.
Hello all u sure the pm is OK
This is a joke.
What we have here is simply another photo-opportunity to impress Skerrit cabal, and the rest of all the illiterate people who follows him. If we count how many Hotels which got started; in Dominica, including the Moroccan, and never got finished, the total amount would be perhaps more than a hundred.
This is simply another mythical hotel, one that will only materialized in the land of oblivion! If it materialized in reality, it will fail, because of one obvious reason. The same reason why most of us Dominicans in the diaspora refuse to travel to Dominica.
Any individual, entity, cooperation, or company, who builds a hotel in Dominica, depending on tourism to fill their rooms would have lost all of their money in the interim. One would have to be ignorant to invest in a hotel in a place which lacks an International Airport!
I am sure Skerrit will lie and tell any investor he is going to build: Fact is Dominica treasury is empty, does not even have fifty million EC dollars in…
One would have to be ignorant to invest in a hotel in a place which lacks an International Airport!
I am sure Skerrit will lie and tell any investor he is going to build: Fact is Dominica treasury is empty, does not even have fifty million EC dollars in it! He is going to say he went to Dubai to get money to build it and help is on the way, we heard that crap in the past.
Steve, Cane Field Airport cannot be developed into anything more than it is. That airport has been a problem from its inception. There is a serious problem caused by wind-share. No reputable airline will risks the life of passengers, pilot, and aircrafts landing and taking off from that place.
They were told prior to the construction that the area was not suitable, they used dirty politics stating that Airport should not be at Marigot; it should be in town, it should be in Roseau! Dominicans are so dumb, it makes people sick!
Hi Francisco, I know Canefield cannot be expanded or anything like that, and I know that it’s not the long term answer to the serious problem of the expense and inconvenience of reaching Dominica. But it can and should be better utilised.
(And yes, that crosswind is a big reason why. I’ve flown in a four seater aircraft out of Canefield, and it was quite noticeable, especially on landing.)
Our forefathers are reeling in their graves. Skerritt and his DLP Cabal have turned the ideals of Kalinago and black Freedom fighters upside down.
Those freedom fighters fought and died to preserve the land, of DA for their children and children to come.
Today, in 2015, Skerritt and his cronies, Black brothers and sisters, went to Parliament, and gave Range Development 15 acres from our Cabrits National Park. Skerritt and his DLP Cabal, on top of that criminal act, even gave Range development our passports to sell to make millions. To build hotel?
Whose fools are we?
The Foreign firm, Range Dev. came empty-handed as an “investor?” Skerritt gave him our Land, our passports? If, if hotel build, Dominicans will not be the owners of that hotel. How dumb? A new kind of slavery.
So we are witnessing a repeat of the famous Layou River hotel saga. Passport selling. A few making Millions. No Hotel as promised. Fooled again and again and again…
If what you claim is true, and can be legally proved, Dominicans do whatsoever it takes to remove Skerrit from power, even if it takes an uprising to overthrow him, and the new administration leaves no stone unturned, find the evidence, and prosecute him, and those who are involved in fleecing, and stealing what is rightly belonging to the people of Dominica!
I do not understand how Dominicans who wanted to organize a bank in the country went and talk to Skerrit about it and solicited governmental help, and that Mountain Chicken Crapo Mentality turned his back on a local investment, and that same Crapo as foreigners broke selling passports to get started squat!
If there is a culprit who need to be living in jail anywhere on the planet it should be Skerrit! Any Prime Minister who would do something like that would not unless they have personal interest in some deal!
If you are correct, this is too obvious! The foreigners should also be sent Dominica jail!
William Penn said it all: “If man is not governed by God, he will be ruled by tyrants.” Freedom apart from God is just an illusion of pride. This is because when we are at war with our conscience, something has to sustain our denial, our secret war against the still, small voice of Truth within—hence our need for lies. And government, in the form of other prideful human beings, is only too happy to oblige. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.”
So long u all in power over 15 years now ..every year we hearing of hotel not one have been operational ,, but passports have been sold all over money have been spent and received . Stop fulling the ppl Mr.PM that won’t take u far.. Your time is counting down .. We will hold u responsible ????????????????????????
It is alright to build hotels, then guest must be able to get to the destination
Oh how I love my PM – Boasting to the World how excited we are about yet another hotel for the north of the island. We guarantee transparency, efficiency and all the ””encies there are, asked for accountability we are good at that. We have the Morocco hotel in the North to prove it to you how transparent and how efficient we are at building hotels doh mind it haven’t been completed after three years plus of it started- we are taking our time to get it right.
Only in Dominica my friends only in Dominica. But I love my PM. HAHAHAHA.
“Excited”
I’m at a loss Skerrit!
What excitement?
Well explain yourself nuh!
Each potential citizen will be buying into and earning a share in the hotel.
Are you excited by that?
Who is de actual owner of the development? The foreigners buying our passports?
What’s in it for a regular Dominican?
You haven’t explained what you excited about?
I thought negotiations were completed.
What happened to the Chinese hotel proposal to be constructed on the pwc compound?
You still negotiating? !!!!!!
I already woke up. I’m not dreaming!!!!!
I used to hear nuff talk of a Chinese hotel at the PWC site.
Are negotiations still ongoing?
Is this a response to the effects of tropical storm Erica?
Pm are u not concern about the DELICES people u and your government have LOCKED up in a CAGE for four months u GUYS are very WICKEDDDDDD
pm looking like a robot
PM is in England, Pm is in Vietnam Pm is in Malaysia, Pm is back in Dubai, pm is in Cayman, pm and delegation is in china, pm disappears no one knows where he is, pm and delegation back in Malaysia, pm is in US to see baby, pm is in Macau. Pm is in morocco , pm is in Libya next week Pm will be in Iraq.
Where are the benefits from these trips?
LABAH? ka twavay
dead!
He’s a world leader!!! He has obligations to various conferences, meetings, symposiums that he does not need to discuss publicly either at request of the inviting party, or for his personal safety. Global politics is not a game, that’s why you never see the schedule of Obama, the Mexican president or the Canada PM because it’s dangerous to put that information out there.
You are plain ridiculous man. Someone in charge of an impoverished little country of not even 70,000, that can not even feed itself is world leader? How come we are sliding behind then and are so poor? Not even a decent hospital good enough for that world leader wife to give birth. Believe me, if Skerrit goes tomorrow the rest of the world will not miss him and that is a fact and the truth.
You are very jovial. Keep it up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Not gonna lie this funny asf
It would be interesting to have Mr. Nassief’s views on all those hotels that are being built by an administration he has helped on many occasions. A Nassief once said he worked for free in order to assist the country when things were bad. Today, hotels are going up like mushrooms. While Skeritt’s concentration is on building hotels, the Tourist Industry is at the worst it has been for years. Maybe Skeritt has a plan to have the hotels filled with tourists from Morocco, Macau, Dubai, Libya, Viet Nam, China, Iraq, Korea, Mozambique, Syria and anywhere else where Dominica’s passports are sold.
alah i feel sorry for skerrit and our treasury now. i mean for a man have to be up and down asia like that to sell some passports? things can change boy. passport is the only way out. we should have listened to dr thompson fontaine and grow our economy
You ‘all please remind me again when is the date of the next election? I am tired of seeing the picture, listening and reading about the half truths of this guy named Skerrit. Actually I am sick and tired.
PM Skerrit it does not make sense to have all these hotels and development and people cannot fly into the country when required. The airports are deplorable and needs development. the airline services are worse than a third world country. It makes no sense to fly on a plane for 8 hours plus, and then condescend to taking a boat from Guadeloupe to Dominica.
Start by developing the storm stricken “Douglas Charles “International” Airport’ and make serious amends to reconstruct the Canefield airport.
If you would like an idea of how to model/design the canefield airport…check me. and I am serious. I don’t mind giving up my job here in the bvi right now to work on this.
I would love to see the Canefield airport developed to maximise its potential. Reasonably priced and well timed connections from there to nearby islands that have medium and long haul flights are the best way in the short term to alleviate our challenge with air travel.
Now you are talking brother. Amen to that.
Well, they have to be built before Skerrit can have them you know!
They can go through their usual ritual of ground breaking, it will be a miracle to ever see a completion, that does not happen in Dominica where it pertains to Hotels.
That is nothing more than another bit of Skerrit feel good act, to appease himself and the foolish people who has no concept of real life, and how business materializes in the developed world!
In the 1920\’s into the late 1940\’s people from all over the Caribbean headed to Dominica to find work. As a result Wesley and Marigot villages were practically first settled by mostly Antiguan\’s, that is why Marigot and Wesley people speak little or no patios. There are two villages in the Portsmouth area, the same apply!
What we have today is bout twenty (25,000) five thousand Dominicans living and working there. Review Antigua\’s economy, and compare it to Dominica\’s, the vast development in Antigua, and conclude if something is not very…
What we have today is about twenty (25,000) five thousand Dominicans living and working in Antigua. Review Antigua\’s economy, and compare it to Dominica\’s, the vast development of Antigua, and conclude if something is not very wrong with our country!
From the late 1950\’s into the late 1960\’s Green Gold (bananas) paid plenty, or dependency was on the export of Bananas, the industry is dead; yet there are many who are of the opinion that without bananas there is no hope for the country, and even if the plantations could recover, the market will not recover, since the market in Europe is all but dead!
It is interesting to note, if an assessments or observations of St. Kitts, Nevis, even Anguilla, and Antigua are made, we will find that those smaller islands are far more developed that Skerrit country. If the individuals in government are backward, they do cause the entire nation to be backwards. Skerrit and the labor party are like poison. They are toxic, and that is…
They are toxic, and that is why nobody wants to invest in Dominica, they lack the ability to even attract a single fly to sit on the sugar they set out!
Antigua, St. Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla does not have any river, nor agricultural plantations, yet they are far more develop than Dominica: Why! I think we all know the answer; I will not even touch on the rest of the Windward islands, nor Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago, and Guyana!