ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC – A two hundred million US dollar arbitration proceeding in the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) of the World Bank has been discontinued between the government of Grenada and a group of United States investors in the Kimpton Kawana Bay Resort.
Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell, who was elected to office in 2022, one year after the matter went to arbitration, announced to parliament that he had reached an amicable outcome to the impasse, which had halted construction of the five-star Resort two years ago, even though 92% of available units at the Kimpton Kawana Bay Resort project had been sold or committed for sale to international investors.
Under the terms of the agreement, the government will obtain the entire Kawana Bay Resort through a compulsory acquisition and take steps to ensure that the project is completed and built out to its fullest potential for the benefit of the tourism industry and with maximum employment for Grenadian citizens.
They will also seek a new developer to complete the project, which had already reached an advanced state before the dispute arose.
The Resort’s investors, led by True Blue Development, took the government of Grenada to the ICSID after the government, led then by Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell, appeared to have reneged on an agreement to an approximately US$99 million budget for the development of the Resort.
The developers also accused the government of requiring that the use of Citizenship by Investment Programmes funds to a percentage of development costs, unilaterally limiting the use of Citizenship by Investment Programmes funds to construction costs, and “electing not to provide a final decision on applications made by Kawana Bay’s Citizenship by Investment purchasers,” a statement on the Resort’s website said.
Under Grenadian law, owners and investors in Kimpton Kawana Bay will be entitled to seek compensation from the Government of Grenada under Grenadian law for the compulsory property acquisition.
Mitchell said, “The Government of Grenada desires a fair and equitable resolution with all owners and committed purchasers at Kimpton Kawana Bay, whose citizenship status in Grenada is unaffected by this negotiated agreement.”
Authentic Blue Development will no longer be involved in the project. Still, a spokesperson for the company commended the government “for working with us to resolve this situation in an atmosphere of mutual respect and trust,” adding that “we have always believed that the Kawana Bay Project will make a tremendous contribution to Grenada’s economy and are pleased that the Kawana Bay Project will now move forward unburdened by a dispute that arose under a previous government.”
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