ACCOMPONG TOWN, St Elizabeth – American investor Richard Anthony Kuhn is establishing an eco-lodge tourism development that, he expects, will reap rich economic benefits for this Maroon state.

The development on three-and-a-half acres of land leased from the Maroon council is expected to boast a restaurant, camp ground, four bungalows furnished with beds and tents for rent. It will probably be powered by solar or hydro-energy, as Khun said he couldn’t afford the J$1.7 million the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) wanted to charge him.

“It is basically for persons who want to get away from the city… (I will be) targeting 60 per cent European visitors while American and Canadian visitors are expected to make up the other 40 per cent,” he said.

Construction of the development is in an advanced stage and the resort is expected to be opened for business in time for the upcoming winter tourist season and the January 6 Maroon celebrations, the most eagerly anticipated event on the community’s calendar.

“St Elizabeth is a hotbed for community tourism,” Kuhn told the Sunday Observer. “People want to explore the Cockpit Country and Maroon heritage.”

“I enjoy the country and I hope the Jamaican Government comes together with the Chinese and fixes the railway. Everything would blossom.”

Accompong’s Colonel Sidney Peddie disclosed that the majority of the over 800 residents welcomed the resort development in the community.

“When he came here first and we spoke I welcomed the idea and the majority of persons here are receptive of it as well,” he said.

Peddie explained that under the lease agreement, Kuhn would provide accommodation to the visitors while the community would provide entertainment.

“He (Kuhn) would have accommodation and we would entertain them with our culture and we would get funds from those who stay with him,” said Peddie. “If tourists come in and wish to stay with him we would get money from them for the community… it is an arrangement.”

Peddie said that when the lease expired, the premises would be returned to the community.

“Certainly it is not that we sold it to him (Kuhn). If he is pulling out he would not be taking anything with him and the community stands to benefit,” Peddie said.

Added Khun: “Everything that is built there, at the end of 30 years it goes back to the Maroons.”

Khun, who has been a visitor to the island since 1989, told the Sunday Observer he decided to make Jamaica his home after his wife died four-and-a-half years ago.