$13M Fiji resort planned

Press, 21 December 1981, Page 10

$13M Fiji resort planned

NZPA Suva A small island near Nandi will soon be developed into a tourist resort in the biggest private venture of its kind in Fiji. About $l3 million will be spent to transform the island of Naisali into a resort of luxury holiday villas. ' Investors who buy a $53,000 suite wjll share 60 per cent of the resort’s earnings. Work will begin in Febru-

ary with the construction of a $l.B million sewerage system. The resort will have 105 villas, each containing three or four self-contained suites, at a cost of $5.7 million.. The first 200 suites are expected to be completed by April, 1983, according to the architect, Frank Holtom, of Larsen, Holtom, Maybin and Company. The project of 375 suites is expected to be complete by the end of 1983. The development of the

island is being done by a group of more than 30 Californian investors led by a civil engineer, Mr Thomas Wersen, of Palo Alto. About 65 per cent of the market for the villa suites lay in Australia, he said, where a sales company, Adelaide Holdings, Ltd, had guaranteed custom that should largely fund the project. The backers have also arranged an air fare and accommodation plan that

would ensure a big flow of American custom for the resort. Mr Wersen’s development group has leased the island for 99 years from the Native Land Trust Board, which has control over all Fijian (native) land in Fiji. The native owners will have a big share in the venture under the board’s leasing rules. About 400 jobs will be created by the resort. About 40 of suites have already been sold, Mr Wersen said.