ST ANN, Jamaica – Karisma Hotels & Resorts has revealed that construction on its US$900 million multiple-hotel development in Llandovery, St Ann is ready and they are set to break ground in January 2017 for the first three hotels.

Under the ‘Sugar Cane Project’, Karisma plans to build 10 hotels over 10 years, with a total of 5,000 rooms which would create direct employment for 10,000 Jamaicans.

Speaking during a meeting with Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett yesterday, at the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, Lubo Krstajic, executive chief of sales and marketing for Karisma, said applications for the required permits have already been submitted for processing and consultations continue with the relevant authorities.

He said they are hopeful that the approval process for the permits for the development, which is the first project under the Ministry of Tourism’s “Shovel-Ready Programme,” will be completed by November, to enable them to meet the January timeline to break ground for the three hotels which will have a combined 1,800 rooms. 

With land preparation, building should start by March 2017. This will coincide with the opening of Karisma’s 149-room Azul 7 hotel, now in the final stages of construction in Negril at a cost of US$45 million.

Bartlett, welcoming the project, pointed out that it represents the largest single investment in the tourism industry.

The Karisma Sugar Cane Project will also signal increased air seats out of Europe. Bartlett stressed that the Karisma investment aligned well with the Ministry’s goals of generating earnings of US$5 billion and securing five million visitors by 2021.