ST GEORGE’S, Grenada (CMC) — A United States-based company is set to invest US$58 million in the Grenada tourism industry under the island’s Citizenship by Investment Programme (CIP) that Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell said is a way of “bringing serious investments to the country”.

The five-star Kimpton Kawana Bay Resort Resort, due to open in 2019, will comprise 110 luxury studio rooms and 45 suites. Twelve additional penthouse apartments will also be available for sale to private owners.

San Francisco-based Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, which will manage the new venture, has at least 60 properties throughout the United States and the Cayman Islands.

The Grenada property is owned and developed by True Blue Development Ltd, a division of the Tau Capital Group of Companies that specialises in development projects internationally.

Speaking at the launch of the project on Tuesday, Prime Minister Mitchell defended the CIP programme under which several Caribbean countries provide citizenship to foreign investors in return for a significant contribution to the socio-economic development of the island.

The programme, which is being run by St Lucia, St Kitts-Nevis, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica, came under close scrutiny recently when the US broadcaster, CBS, aired a special programme on its flagship programme

60 Minutes alleging that the passports could be used by terrorists and criminals to move freely around the world.

Mitchell told the ceremony that the CIP is all about bringing investment to the country and not just about selling passports.

“It’s a way of bringing serious investment to the country by serious investors and that is why we conduct serious research and background checks on those who apply,” he said.

“When we attract quality people, we have benefits like this through the CIP programme,” he said, thanking the developers of the Kimpton Kawana Bay Resort, which will be located in the area that once housed the Flamboyant Hotel and Villas.

Last year, the owners of the Flamboyant Hotel said that a new company had purchased the property and that it would close its doors in July.

Grenada’s Consul General in Miami, Ambassador Warren Newfield, who founded the Tau Capital Group of Companies and serves as its chairman, said the project would provide jobs for many of those who would be laid off as a result of the closure of the hotel.

“We will be replacing the lost jobs,” Newfield told the invited guests, who join the developers and government in the ceremony to announce the start of work on the project.

During the construction phase, it is estimated that 200 people will gain employment, while an estimated 150 will find employment upon completion in 2019.