China's Caribbean plans muddled by delays in US$3.5b Baha Mar resort
Resort misses peak travel season as disputes between builder China Construction America and Izmirlian family become a public sparring match
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Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
THE US$3.5 billion Baha Mar luxury resort in The Bahamas, long a dream of the Swiss-Bahamian Izmirlian family, was nearly a victim of the Great Recession when investors started pulling out in 2008. Then China came calling.
Thanks to a US$2.4 billion loan from China's export-import bank, 4,000 imported workers and US$150 million in equity for a new developer, the project was salvaged. For the Chinese, Baha Mar was a potential showpiece, a calling card as it set out to expand into the Americas with mega-resorts and massive construction projects, including a planned US$50 billion waterway in Nicaragua to rival the Panama Canal.
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