Ministers Obie Wilchcombe and Allyson Maynard-Gibson were guided through the 500-acre property and provided with a progress report on the development so far and the slated facilities expected to be completed by November in time for the December soft opening.
The ministers were also invited to plant the first grass on the golf course, which is expected to be completed by June.
According to Mr. de Savary, the aim of the resort will be to provide visitors with a true Bahamian experience and to achieve that end, he will be hiring as much local talent as he can to work in all areas of the resort.
“This is not America in The Bahamas,” he said. “This is not Florida in Abaco. Everything here will be the flavour and the lifestyle of a family island. That’s what I believe people will appreciate and enjoy from the cuisine to the culture to the landscaping to the architecture.”
To achieve this, Mr. de Savary will be offering scholarships to Bahamians for training in golfing, spa services and many of the other services to be offered by the resort.
Mr. de Savary has also selected a well-known Bahamian golfer, Keno Turnquest along with tennis player Robert Russell to teach club members and guests at the resort.
Plans are already underway to send Mr. Turnquest to the United States and Europe for the next seven months to learn the skill of teaching golf.
“He is already a world class golfer, he has a world class personality (and) when he comes back in September he will be a world class teacher,” Mr. de Savary said.
The resort is being constructed with the aim of being as environmentally friendly as possible. In the development, special care was taken to preserve as much as the original vegetation as possible.
Mr. de Savary said once the resort is completed, no cars will be allowed on the property and will instead be left at the designated parking spot located near the entrance. Navigation of the 500-acre property will be done by golf carts or on foot.
Once completed the development will consist of 60, one and two acre beach lots for members wishing to build homes and 75 cottages, which will be made available for sale or rent. The resort owner said clients are expected to begin construction of homes within the next four to five weeks.
The development has a team of 260 working on site; the majority of which are Bahamians. The development already has 46 Abaconian contractors and this number is expected to increase to 400 over the next six to seven weeks. By the soft opening in December, 13 cottages and the majority of the resort amenities including the club house, spa, exercise room, stable, welcoming administration building, maintenance building, golf course and golf academy are expected to be completed.
Addressing concerns over possible reduced access by locals to the beaches around the resort, Mr. de Savary assured that this would not be the case.
“There has always been access to the beach and that access remains. Nothing changes,” he said. “Everything that has been in the form of access for the last how many years remains; nothing’s changed. People were worried that we’d closed off the access; rumours have spread (that were) completely wrong. The access that has always been there remains there.”
Mr. de Savary also committed to erecting public restrooms for use by people using the beaches.
Martella Matthews, The Nassau Guardian
