Cuba and China will enter joint venture featuring a golf-course complex
Cuba and China on Wednesday (June 24) will sign an agreement on a joint venture involving the construction of a large building complex next to a golf course east of Havana, the Cuban news agency ACN reported.
The complex will rise in Bellomonte, on Cuba’s northern coast, at a cost of $462 million. It will consist of hotels, a golf course and condominiums.
[For background in Progreso Weekly, click here.]
José Raúl Daniel Alonso, business director at the Ministry of Tourism (MinTur) said that the pact, between the state-run organization Grupo Palmares and the Chinese firm Beijing Enterprises Holdings Ltd., would be the second of its kind.
The first joint venture for the development of golf-related real estate was created in 2014 with the British company Esencia Hotels and Resorts.
It involved the construction of a $360 million complex near Cuba’s main tourist resort, Varadero, in Matanzas province. Construction of the project, to be known as The Carbonera Club, is set to begin next year.
A third joint venture, similar in nature, is in the works and will be announced later this year, Alonso said. He did not reveal who the foreign partner would be or where the buildings would rise.
Cuba currently has one 18-hole golf course, in Varadero. The government has said that it plans to have at least 12 golf resorts.
In an interview last month with Caribbean News Digital, Daniel Alonso identified the areas where golf-related joint ventures would be most attractive for foreign investors.
SOUTH CENTRAL COAST: “We shall analyze projects that combine hotels and villas with recreation centers and ancillary sites.”
NORTH OF CAMAGUEY: “We need to concentrate our efforts in the culmination of a project on Santa Lucía Beach and develop nautical investments in their various modalities.”
NORTH OF LAS TUNAS: “We’ll look at projects in the tourist center of Covarrubias, where we could develop nautical activities.”
NORTH OF HOLGUÍN: “We foresee maximizing nautical investments in the various modalities.”
When it comes to the construction of marinas, joint ventures are not permitted, Daniel Alonso pointed out. Only contracts for the furnishing of services at a marina are allowed.
In all cases, the Tourism official said, “the product that will be developed with these investments is aimed at a medium-to-high-income segment [of tourists] that will guarantee the levels of occupancy and high revenue.”
[Photo at top of Cuba’s only 18-hole golf club is in Varadero, Matanzas province, east of Havana.]
