A Spanish company announced it is negotiating with the Cuban government construction of a large golf and marina resort on the Guanahacabibes peninsula, the western tip of the island, Caribbean News Digital first reported.

La Playa Golf & Resorts S.L. is planning to build a resort centered around seven golf courses. At buildout, the 4,000-hectare mixed project would include apartments, villas and townhouses, three boutique hotels, a golf academy, marina, sport fishing club, and a horseback riding center. According to Executive Director Roger Jordana, the Guanahacabibes Golf & Marina Resort would be the biggest on the island.

Jordana made the remarks on the sidelines of the Montecristo Cup golf tournament in Varadero.

The resort would be near the Guanahacabibes National Park, a world biosphere reserve, and the tobacco-growing Viñales Valley. It is conveniently located across the Strait of Yucatan from Cancún, but it is a half-day’s drive from Havana.

The Council of Ministers has approved 16 golf course projects throughout the island; developers believe the government will give green light for four golf condominium resorts in May. The Guanahacabibes golf resort had not been expected to be among the first four. According to close observers, the most advanced projects are those of a Canadian investor group in Guardalavaca, in the eastern province of Holguín; one by a Spanish group at Bahía Honda in Pinar del Río province west of Havana, one at Jibacoa just east of Havana by a Canadian company, and one near the beach resort of Varadero by a British group. 

In an effort to boost foreign investment in tourism, the Council of State in August published a decree that provides a legal framework for residential construction by foreign investors, granting leases on state land for up to 99 years. A body of regulations surrounding foreign condo communities has yet to be published. 

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 21st, 2011 at 2:42 pm and is filed under Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.