WILLEMSTAD - At the invitation of the developers of Groot Santa Martha, the members of the Pisas cabinet were given a presentation of the plans for the tourist project on the location where Coral Cliff and later Sunset Waters - now demolished - were located.

The project was unveiled for the first time in December 2018; then in the presence of ministers from the previous government. The initiators have not been idle, but since then circumstances have arisen that have caused delays, of which the Covid-19 crisis, which has lasted for a year and a half, has made the greatest impact.

In the same room, the Voyager Lounge,Prime Minister Gilmar Pisas, Minister Charles Cooper of Urban Planning, Minister Dorothy Pietersz-Janga of Public Health as well as Minister Ruthmilda Larmonie-Cecilia of both Social Development and Economy received a presentation of the plans.

"The aim was to introduce the ministers to the tourist project of Groot Santa Martha," says the Prime Minister on his social media. The developers are the Vogels family (owners of Avila Beach Hotel and Lions Dive) and the Van Alstede family (Dutch Real Estate Management). Robbin Vogels and Philip van Alstede gave the presentation. 

Pisas notes that it concerns an investment project of 300 million guilders. “Status of the project: master plan approved, and the long lease of the site and marina completed. What is still missing is the permit to start with the (re)construction of the beach.”

It concerns (at least) two hotels and, the Prime Minister continues, whose marina and beach are and remain accessible to the public. The project will have a positive and major effect on Bándabou; Soto and Santa Martha in particular. The intention is to use local workers and specifically Bándabou employees.