The Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda has signed a deal with a Chinese firm to launch a massive integrated resort and casino project. On Monday, Antigua’s government announced it had signed a memorandum of understanding with China’s Yida International Investment Antigua to develop a $740.7m mixed-use tourism project. The resort would be the largest of its kind in the region, larger even than the Baha Mar project that’s set to open in the Bahamas in December (which also has Chinese backing).
When finished, the Antiguan project would boast a casino, five-star hotels, 1,300 residential units, a conference center, a 27-hole golf course, a marina and a commercial/retail/sports facility. The project will be built on Antigua’s Guiana Island, the Crump Peninsula and a pair of smaller islands. The total 1,500-acre property is land formerly owned by disgraced financier/Ponzi schemer Allen Stanford, who is currently serving a 110-year prison sentence after being convicted on fraud charges in 2012.
The deal was signed on the same day that Antigua swore in a new Labor government led by Prime Minister Gaston Browne. Former prime minister Baldwin Spencer’s United Progressive Party had held power for the last decade until Antiguan voters decided last week that they felt like a change.
In announcing the deal, Browne said he had “promised the people that my administration would bring the type of investments” that would transform Antigua into “an economic powerhouse.” Attorney General Steadroy C.O. Benjamin said the project would boost local employment and help offset job losses that resulted from the 2009 collapse of Stanford’s business empire.
