Newsletter 2010
The President Visits Paradise Beach
Paradise Beach began this month with a visit from the President of Sal, Dr Jorge Figuereido, and his colleagues from the Camara Municipal. The Directors of Paradise Beach, its’ Project Managers, and site Managers from both SGL & Opway, the joint venture contractors, were present at this meeting.
The on-site Project Manager Mr Samuel Viegas welcomed the President and his colleagues to Paradise Beach and briefed all onthe current status of the project since construction re-commenced in September 2009. The President was aware of our access road problem since we began our talks with the Cape Verdean Authorities and was very supportive to Paradise Beach during the process of resolving the access problem. He is happy that we have accepted the proposed access solution from the Cape Verdean Authorities as it has allowed Paradise Beach to get on with the construction.
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We then proceeded to tour the site of Paradise Beach. Dr Figueiredo and his colleagues were extremely impressed with the amount of space within the resort and noticed that the density of Paradise Beach was considerably low. They were also happy to see a large number of workers on the site and that we have a considerable portion of the project almost finished to date.
We visited a number of units including the show house, a 3 bedroom semi detached villa, where he again commented that not only was the resort spacious but the properties also had considerable room sizes. We proceeded to visit a frontline detached luxury villa, where the President and his team were bowled over with the size of these properties and the consideration to detail internally and externally in these luxurious frontline properties.
Overall, the President of Sal concluded that he was very happy with what he saw evolving at the site and was confident that the project of Paradise Beach was certainly one of the highest standards on the west coast of Sal.
Construction News
Paradise Beach now has a total of 680 men on site, an additional 100 men since our last newsletter in January. These men are divided into many teams across the site from north to south.
Units that have recently been certified for foundations and associated infrastructures in Blocks 1 & 2, are now well on their way to the next levels as ground and first floor block work develops and we can now see these blocks beginning to take shape in their semi circle formats. The remaining parts of Blocks 1 & 2 have begun foundation works and many purchasers have been already been notified by the independent project managers that the foundations and associated infrastructures will be certified before the end of March. Contractors are preparing to move the cranes from the south end to the north to assist with construction as it quickly advances onto the next floor levels.
The semi detached villas in the northern end of the site, are advancing accordingly. As youwill see in the gallery, there is a range of productivity within the villas from foundation works, ground floor block work, first floor block work and roof slab works and tiling. Many more of the semi detached villas on this end have also been certified for foundations and associated infrastructures.
Internal and external plastering is coming to a finish on apartment blocks 3 & 4 on the south of the site and these units will prepare for the next stage of tiling on the remaining units. Already, many tiling completion certificates have been signed off by the independent project manager and these units are now ready for the next stage of windows which the contractor is now preparing for.
The semi detached villas in this part of the site are coming closer to completion as tiling nears an end. In those that have already been certified completed fortiling, windows have already started to be fitted by the contractor. Again, the project manager will be certifying completion on many of these properties throughout the next few weeks as the kitchen fitters prepare to start on site towards the end of March.
On the frontline, Primary villas and semi detached villas, on the south of the hotel plot are progressing well from right to left as you will see in our gallery. Roof works have now completed in the majority and the remaining will be finished this part shortly, while the others are continuing internal and external plaster works in preparation for internal works.
Many of the internal cobbled roads, pavements and paths are now coming to a finish on the central avenue and the smaller roads on the south side. Plastering and tiling is progressing and almost complete in many of the common walkways and stairwells between the apartment blocks. The first two swimming pools within the semi detached clusters have been excavated and foundations have been poured. Once works have completed on the first pool, the landscapers will be ready to start on the communal gardens within these areas.
Access Road
As per our last newsletter, Paradise Beach agreed to the proposal given by the Cape Verdean Authorities to access the resort of Paradise Beach which consists of a new road between the Dunas Beach Resort and Cotton Bay sites from the main motorway to our site. The drawings for this road are currently in design and construction for this new road will begin in the middle of this year.
Completion Date
Paradise Beach expects that the contractors application for final extension of time will be a minimum of 18 months (from the original contract date). We are on target to complete Phase 1 of the resort by spring 2011, with the intention of completing and handing over a substantial portion of the properties and common infrastructures (swimming pools, landscaping, roads, paths, stairs, lifts etc) by Autumn of this year. This will consist of 264 units and its surrounding common infrastructures on the south side of the plot.
Furniture Packages
We are currently finalizing all details on the furniture packages with the suppliers we have chosen and hope to have all this information confirmed for the next newsletter. It is the intention to have 3 or 4 properties kitted out with the furniture packages that the suppliers will be offering by mid April and these will be used as the new show units for a limited period of time.
Mortgages
Paradise Beach is pleased to inform our purchasers that we have agreed in principle that the bank of BAI, Banco Africano de Investimentos, will finance the clients of Paradise Beach up to 50% of their investment. There will be 3 parties involved in this process, the purchaser, Paradise Beach, and BAI. In our case, Paradise Beach will act as guarantor during the construction period of the unit. Once the unit is ready and title deeds have been signed at the notary, the guarantee provided by Paradise Beach expires and we no longer act as guarantor. The owner of the property then makes the payments to the bank. Details are currently being finalized and we hope to sign an official agreement over the coming weeks. We will be linking all of this with a local mortgage broker here on the island who will handle all queries, application procedures etc. Meanwhile, until any official process is set up, any payments requested on completion of a stage will be administered as normal and we expect purchasers to fulfill their obligations as per the clauses outlined in the contract.
BAI, Banco Africano de Investimentos was founded in 1996 as the first private bank in Angola. Their vision was to dominate the Angolan bank market and during this process, they have expanded to Portugal, Brasil, Sao Tome and Cape Verde. The group has liquid assets to the value of 3.6 billion USD and a net profit of 234 million USD.
BAI itself is the majority shareholder here in the Cape Verdean branch with a 71% sharehold. Sonangol Cape Verde is a shareholder of 17%, and Sogei, a shareholder of 10% of the bank. They have a share capital of 90 million USD.
Upcoming Newsletters
Finally, I would like to inform you that from now on, the newsletter will be published on our website in week 2 of every month. This allows me to receive all the progress reports from the engineers and project managers on site informing me of the progression on each individual unit and on the site as a whole.
If you have any queries regarding the information contained in this newsletter, please do not hesitate to contact me on my contact details below.
Best Regards,
________________
Laura Power
Sales Manager
Paradise Beach SA.
Tel: (00238) 9991939
Email: laura@paradisebeach-capeverde.com
