The government is locked in intense negotiations with the Baha Mar investment consortium in a bid to clinch the $1.2 billion project to redevelop the Cable Beach strip, as the latter’s February 19 deadline to complete the purchase of Philip Ruffin’s two hotel properties looms ever nearer.
The Baha Mar negotiating team and its government counterpart, headed by Dr. Baltron Bethel, deputy chairman and managing director of the Hotel Corporation, are said by sources close to the process to be locked in talks at the Radisson Cable Beach resort. Sources close to the process said an agrrement needed to be reached by the end of this coming weekend to give investors a chance to wrap everything up.
Apart from negotiating a Heads of Agreement, the talks are also centered on reaching a purchase agreement for the Radisson, which is owned by the Hotel Corporation.
The Tribune revealed last month how the Baha Mar consortium, who has as its lead investor Lyford cay billionaire Dikran Izmirlian, was afraid that the $1.2 billion project could be blown up if it failed to conclude the Radisson purchase and Heads of Agreement before the Ruffin option expired.
Source: Neil Hartnell, the Tribune
