The Baha Mar Resort and Casino was supposed to become one of the most glamorous vacation resorts in the Bahamas.
Today, more than four years after groundbreaking, the $3.5 billion project—financed and constructed by China—faces multiple problems and the local developer has filed for bankruptcy in the United States.
The ambitious project, which the Chinese communist regime hoped to showcase in order to win more contracts in the U.S. construction market, has instead become a huge setback for China.
Baha Mar is a project led by Bahamian businessman and developer Sarkis Izmirlian, with financing provided by China’s Export-Import Bank and construction outsourced to China State Construction. Once complete, the beachfront resort was to have around 2,000 hotel rooms, 300 condos, and Las Vegas-style casinos.
Construction began in 2011 and the resort was due to open in December 2014. It was subsequently delayed to March 2015. That deadline was also missed, and construction has now stopped on the Bahamian resort.
The sprawling resort is substantially complete and Baha Mar ramped up hiring earlier this year anticipating a March opening. But the repeated missed deadlines have resulted in a cash crunch, and its developer was forced to file for bankruptcy protection on June 29.
Izmirlian blamed China Construction America, the local arm of China State Construction contracted to build the resort, for the delays causing the resort to lose money.
The Chinese Job
Izmirlian, whose family is one of the wealthiest in the Bahamas, had worked closely with the Bahamas government for more than a decade to bring the Baha Mar idea to fruition. After the financial crisis delayed the project, China stepped in to provide financing, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Left with few financing opportunities, the Bahamas government handed the contract to China. When complete, the mega-resort would supply jobs to 5,000 locals and account for up to 12 percent of the island’s GDP.
