When Premier Dr. Orlando Smith announced last year that the British company McAlpine would revamp the Prospect Reef Resort to the tune of $100 million, he thought it was a done deal.
So did McAlpine.
However, there was a “tiny misunderstanding,” officials explained this week after a long silence: Both parties had a different idea about who would pay the $100 million.
“We had assumed that the BVI government would pay us the money to carry out the project — not the other way around,” said a McAlpine official. “So we were surprised by the announcement that we would be investing the cash.”
Dr. Smith, on the other hand, said he was “99 percent certain” that he had heard McAlpine officials commit to putting up the $100 million.
“Unfortunately,” he added, “the minutes of the meetings have been lost to mould and termites, as usual.”
Now, the parties are working to iron out what Dr. Smith described as “the minor detail” of funding.
“In the long term, of course, the question of who invests $100 million is hardly material,” he explained. “Two hundred years from now, no one will even care. What is important is building a nine-star resort in Nature’s Little Secrets.”
Assumptions
While the discussions are still friendly, both parties stood by the logic of their original assumptions.
“We just assumed that a large company like McAlpine would have plenty of resources, so it made sense that they would front the money for a cash-strapped territory,” Dr. Smith said.
But McAlpine had similar thoughts about the VI government.
“Given all the petty contracts that they hand out each year, they’ve clearly got cash to spare,” the company official said. “And the government makes so much from financial services, we thought of course they’d be able to front such a modest sum.”
Dialogue
Now, the parties are having a “healthy dialogue” on the way forward, they explained.
For its part, government is contending that the privilege of developing Prospect Reef is “priceless.”
“We’re sure that McAlpine will come to understand that $100 million is a fantastic bargain for the privilege of improving upon a luxurious palace like Prospect Reef,” the premier said.
McAlpine, however, countered that “building upon” the existing resort is not exactly what they had in mind.
“We had assumed that much of the government’s $100 million would go toward bulldozing the buildings and preparing the site for a proper resort,” the company representative explained.
He added that there is also a question about possible payoffs to dozens of timeshare owners who purchased rights to the property before government bought it in 2005.
“Not to mention the fact that live dolphins are stored in the swimming pool during hurricanes,” he said. “That’s hardly a prime tourist attraction.”
Other options
If the two parties are unable to agree on who will pay the $100 million, they might consider other possibilities, they said.
“For example, we understand that McAlpine makes an excellent fruitcake,” Dr. Smith said. “A few bake sales could go a long way.”
He added that the government is even considering selling more timeshares to raise funds.
“That seemed to work really well the last time around,” he said. “Lots of money came in, and then the resort was sold without the buyer — government — taking any responsibility for the timeshares.”
Whatever transpires, he added, he is confident that a new Prospect Reef Resort will be “a boon for the people of the BVI.”
McAlpine readily agreed.
“The important thing is that we remain amicable,” the company official said. “This whole episode was almost embarrassing, but sometimes that’s just business.”
Disclaimer: Dateline: Paradise is a column and occasionally contains satirical “news” articles that are entirely fictional.
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