Prime Minister Phillip J Pierre and Opposition Leader Allen Chastanet this week shared starkly contrasting perspectives on the Canelles Resort project, a Citizenship by Investment Programme (CIP)-approved development that has sparked heated debate since its inception.
The Saint Lucia Canelles Resort Real Estate Investment, the first CIP-approved initiative, broke ground in 2020 under the then-United Workers Party (UWP) government. Designed as two luxury all-inclusive resorts on a 160-acre site in Canelle, Micoud, the development has been overshadowed by delays, legal challenges, and allegations of mismanagement.
After the Pierre administration assumed office in July 2021, work on the project resumed under reportedly new terms. The project’s developer, Caribbean Galaxy Real Estate Ltd, was urged to expedite the project, and the developers set the end of 2025 as the projected completion date. However, Galaxy later faced legal action from a St Kitts-based developer over claims of discounting and underpricing passports under the CIP.
During a media briefing on Monday, Prime Minister Pierre admitted he was concerned about the pace of construction.
“I’d like to see it move faster. That is the truth. The owners tell us that there is another issue. We have to discuss as a country again, labour,” he said, adding that the developer faced labour and supply chain challenges. “But I agree that construction should progress more and we are informing the investor that construction should be expedited.”
Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Chastanet on Tuesday sharply criticised the project’s handling under the current administration.
He alleged that in 2022, the government amended the original 2019 contract, increasing the allocation of CIP passports from US$210 million to US$1 billion without any corresponding expansion in the project’s scale.
“No additional rooms, no nothing,” Chastanet claimed. “A hotel that was supposed to cost US$300 million, now the government has given them US$1 billion.”
He also contended that while the estimated cost of the project was US$250–300 million in 2019, the project has spent no more than EC$30 million.
“Right now, there’s nothing happening at the hotel,” Chastanet said, further charging that no planning approvals had been secured and that a UN-designated mangrove reserve at the site had been destroyed.
“The Galaxy project is a calamity that we are going to receive no money from CIP, because they are being paid the commission of the administrative fee, and we’re not getting any hotel. So again, there’s nothing happening here. Canelles is a disaster and this government refuses to be held accountable for what’s taking place there,” the UWP leader charged.
Photo caption: An aerial shot of the hotel project at Canelles. At the time it was taken on Friday, January 17, 2025, there was no sign of any work going on at the site.
