Govt Encourages Project Management to Expedite Royal Mill Hotel Construction
The Royal Mill Hotel, which has been under construction since 2021, has been the victim of challenges in the family of the financier.
Minister of Finance Camilo Gonsalves, giving an update on the project on Sunday, said the financier has been ill and there were disagreements among his offspring about priorities.
The minister said some resources have now been extended to get construction rolling.
“The financier has been ill with challenges to his health, and there were disagreements among his offspring about the level of priority that they would give to the project while the patriarch was ill.”
“I’ve been advised, as of two weeks ago, that some additional resources have been extended to the construction company. I’ve also been advised that they are having meetings this week with major construction companies, one of which has worked in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, on the construction of a very large hospitality project, to see whether or not they can take over and expedite the construction of the Royal Mill facility.”
Gonsalves said the government has been encouraging that sort of activity because they think that project management has been one of the major challenges of Royal Mill, and they are giving them time to get their ducks in a row in that regard.
”If you’ve been up there the last couple of weeks, you’ll have seen more workmen on the site. And that’s a product of the fact that, as I said, the patriarch has released some additional resources for the project . But just adding more workers will not get that project to where it needs to go. It needs project management, and it needs a dedicated company with the construction skills to bring this thing together in a way that adding 20 more people or 50 more people cannot do. So we’re going to give that some time.”
Gonsalves stated that their position differs from Black Sands Resort in terms of the levers at the government’s disposal.
“We do not have the same levers to pull with Royal Mill as we do with Black Sands. The land, for example, at Royal Mill was not purchased pursuant to the same type of alien landholding licence and conditions and so on that we are able to leverage to get action. And they did not come to us pursuant to the same type of development agreement that we have with some other areas where the government has powers to default and to force activity. So our role there is more sort of suasion”.
“We have a carrot, but we don’t have a stick. But undoubtedly they’re behind schedule,” Gonsalves said.
The minister said the government has been in contact with the owners of Black Sands Resort about their dissatisfaction, and an announcement is expected soon.
