Albany deal may be running aground:
By INDERIA SAUNDERS, Guardian Staff Reporter -
Nassau, Bahamas:



Construction on the billion-dollar Albany Beach and Golf Resort is still at a standstill more than a week after the government approved phase one of the development, raising concerns about the project's ultimate outcome.

"Today the tractors are silent," said Pericles Maillis, a property owner near the proposed development and a self-proclaimed supporter of it. "The last two to three days the machinery has been quiet ... as a neighbor it's been a bit quiet, which is worrying me.

"I am looking forward to the government saying 'yes' to everything and to expediting it ... this time I want to hear the sound of machinery."

Neither government nor Albany representatives would offer comment Tuesday. Investors behind the mixed-use development include the Tavistock Group and famous golfers Ernie Els and Tiger Woods.

Despite its very public appeal to the PM's office for subdivision and other approvals, the development company is now silent about its equally quiet southend construction site. Also unclear is the fate of the 1,000 jobs the developer suggested would be created.

That lull in construction may indicate that discussions with the government have hit a snag on the one key aspect of the project — its marina. That 50-slip facility would ultimately lead to reduced beach access for the public or at the very least a major alteration.

In a document released to The Nassau Guardian from the department of physical planning, there was some indication the marina had been approved by the Town Planning Committee on September 4. However the same document indicated that the application remained in the approvals process, this time in the hands of the Office of Building Control.

Problems with marina approvals have in the past been an issue for some developers, including the Romaro Bay Resort in Harbour Island. Construction of that resort was held up for months as government officials and the developer discussed the issues surround the consent and the impact of the marina on the quaint community.

Although it is not clear if the same is now true for Albany, its desire to have a marina on site may have everything to do with satisfying prospective buyers and their yachts, increasingly shut out of Florida. Officials there have curtailed construction on development of any more such facilities.

The move was sparked by environmental concerns centered on the potential damage to the water table and the ecosystem, in general.

The spectre of those same deleterious effects occurring here were raised by citizens attending a series of town hall meetings last month.

Another approvals issue for the development company is the controversial road diversion that has been proposed to make way for it and the new South Ocean development.

Maillis, at least, appears to have reconciled himself to that aspect of the plan.

"I want them to go on with it," he said Tuesday. "I have a deep, deep worry about the economic well-being of the future of New Providence in the short term."

10/10/07