by Brian Major
Last updated: 12:00 PM ET, Thu August 21, 2014
The government of Antigua and Barbuda reached an agreement with Yida International Investment Group to build a $2 billion, 1,600-acre mega resort that will include multiple hotels plus residential and commercial projects.
The Singulari project is being billed as 50 percent larger than the massive $3.5 billion Baha Mar resort currently under construction in the Bahamas. The project will include 900 acres of land in the north of Antigua along with 700 acres across several of the country's smaller islands and include luxury hotels, private residences, a school, a hospital, golf courses, a horse racing track and what is described as the Caribbean's largest casino.
Gaston Browne, Antigua's prime minister, signed a memorandum of agreement with Yida representatives on June 13, one day after taking office following a general election. Browne has promised to address the country's significant national debt and high unemployment.
The resort is planned for land previously owned by Allen Stanford, the disgraced former investor who is currently serving a 110-year sentence in a Florida prison for a $7 billion financial fraud scheme tied to his former investment firm. The project is expected to create 1,000 jobs for the tiny Caribbean nation.
Last month Browne announced an agreement with Al Caribi Deveolpment Ltd., to build a "five-star branded luxury resort" at Morris Bay, near Antigua's existing Curtain Bluff luxury hotel, according to a statement on Antigua's government website.
The new resort will occupy 36 acres of beachfront land, five acres of which will be developed into a public national park facility for the use by residents and tourists. The complex will offer five separate hotel properties, according to Antigua government officials.
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