Six Senses Resort construction yet to start, PM Harris remains silent

Nearly one year after Prime Minister Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris announced that his Team Unity Government had attracted the Six Sense luxury hotel brand to St. Kitts and construction was to begin in September 2018 providing 500 jobs, he has gone completely silent on the project.

Dr. Harris is also silent on the Ritz-Carlton project he heralded a year ago and ordered local proprietors to remove their booths from the public beach at South Friar's Bay.

"Prime Minister Harris announced during his February 1 press conference that the award-winning Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company L.L.C., part of Marriott International, will open a Ritz-Carlton Resort in St. Kitts in 2021 on the Southeast Peninsula," his office said on February 7, 2018.

Dr. Harris and his Team Unity Government know that the world famous Park Hyatt St. Kits was attracted to the Federation and construction began during the term of then Prime Minister the Right Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas and his Minister of Tourism, Sen. the Hon. Richard "Ricky" Skerritt, yet he has been giving the impression that his government brought it to St. Kitts

Rt. Hon Dr. Denzil L. Douglas and Sen. the Hon. Ricky Skerritt signed the agreement for the construction of the Park Hyatt St. Kitts in Dubai in July 2012. The ground breaking ceremony was held June 2013 and it was opened in November 2017.

A press release issued by Harris' office on April 25th 2018 reads: "... the prime minister further stated that St. Kitts and Nevis now boasts of the Park Hyatt, Six Senses and the Ritz-Carlton, while adding that, "We are on our way to become the destination with the largest number of branded luxury hotel properties anywhere in the region. This is an incredible demonstration of confidence in our government, in our people and in the transparent way in which we do business here."

But where is the transparency when Dr. Harris and his Minister of Tourism, Hon. Lindsay Grant and his Deputy Prime Minister and the area's parliamentary representative, Hon. Shawn Richards are silent on Six Senses and the Ritz-Carlton.

In fact, the name Six Senses did not find its way, not even once in the 2019 Budget Address delivered by Dr. Harris in December 2018.

Dr. Harris also stated on March 4, 2018 that more than 500 jobs will be created locally during the construction phase of the Six Senses which was scheduled to commence in September 2018 at La Valle in Sandy Point.

Well-known for misleading the nation, the region and the world, Dr. Harris also said that St. Kitts and Nevis was the only country in the sub-region projected to register a near five percent growth rate in 2018, Both the Basseterre-based Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) and the Washington-based International Monetary Fund (IMF) have projected a growth rate of 2.7 percent for 2018.

Dr. Harris has blocked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from publishing the Article IV Consultation on the state of the St. Kitts and Nevis economy which was assessed by an IMF Mission Team in June/July 2018.