Dominica is receiving significant amount of money poured into construction of hotels through the island’s citizenship by investment by investment program.
In an interview , The Minister for Planning & Economic Development Mirium Blanchard says over US$200M is presently being poured into CBI funded hotels on island.
She said the investment proves significant, and as a result is creating jobs for Dominican citizens.
The Parliamentary Representative for the Portsmouth Constituency Ian Douglas says Dominica is still standing after the pull out of so many businesses over the years, and particularly post H Maria because of the Citizenship by Investment (CBI) Program
During a progress tour around the highly-anticipated Anichi Resort & Spa, Ian Douglas – the Parliamentary Rep for the Portsmouth Constituency – addressed the importance of Dominica’s Citizenship by Investment Programme: https://t.co/hRG1jE5B0x https://t.co/NxT7KiwwSR pic.twitter.com/A2ASIuskNL
— Dominica CBIU (@DominicaCBIU) October 16, 2018
The Dominica Citizenship by investment program requires $200,000 investment in real estate (hotels or resorts) to qualify for citizenship. At the moment there are six approved real estate developments by Government funded by CBI program.
Recently the Citizenship unit of Dominica issued a warning against aggressive marketing of CBI program and follow the Government guidelines.
According to PM Skerrit,
The CBI Programme is estimated to bring an extra EC$406.6 million to the country’s revenues in the coming year. One of the new directions the funds are used for is an ambitious Housing and Resettlement project to address the standard of living of the locals post-Maria. 5000 homes are planned to be built under the CBI Programme, with the first 1000 already contracted for construction. The homes are designed to withstand seismic events and Category 5 hurricanes, in line with Dominica’s innovative efforts to become the world’s first climate resilient nation.
The tourism sector is seeing a major boost, with the development of the world-class CBI-funded hotels making significant progress and opening hundreds of permanent job opportunities for the people of Dominica.
- KEMPINSKI: with the help of over 450 construction workers, all major structural works have been completed. The hotel will add 161 rooms to the current stock and is expected to officially open by fall 2019;
- JUNGLE BAY: the well-known resort & spa is reporting steady progress with 30 villas scheduled to open by February 2019. The full project will be completed in December 2019 and will create 100 permanent jobs;
- ANICHI: The 128-room Marriott development is advancing speedily, with five blocks currently under construction and prospects to employ up to 280 citizens;
- TRANQUILITY BEACH: the Hilton Curio development starts construction in October 2018. Mobilisation of equipment and machinery has begun and housing and for staff and management has been sourced.
IMF in Article IV consultation report said Category 5 Hurricane Maria hit Dominica on September 18, 2017 while it was still recovering from tropical storm Erika, which had damaged the island on August 27, 2015. While Erika had caused severe damage, estimated at 96 percent of GDP, Maria was Dominica’s worst natural disaster with damage estimated at US$1.3 billion (226 percent of GDP). Prior to the disaster, the government had been making progress on fiscal consolidation commitments associated with the October 28, 2015 disbursement under the Rapid Credit Facility (SDR 6.15 million), which had sought to generate primary surpluses adequate to reduce the debt to GDP ratio to 60 percent by 2030.
In 2015, Dominica was hit by Erika which wiped out 90% of GDP.
The Commonwealth of Dominica recently signed visa waiver with Russia, giving the much needed boost to its CBI program. It is widely anticipated, Dominica will receive more CBI applications as a result of signing more visa waivers.
The Dominican passport is ranked 37th powerful passport in the world with visa free access to 137 countries including United Kingdom, EU Schengen States etc.
