Dear All
I am pleased to confirm that I met up with the developer last weekend in Spain and was both reassured and comforted by what he had to say about the current position of Punta Perla and the reasoning behind the delays.
Right now I am in the middle of an office move and up until yesterday have been rendered internetless (if there is such a word)for the last few days, so apologies if you have been unable to get hold of me.
Please be aware that I am both sympathetic and understanding to all of you for the delays which we have all had to endure with this project, but from what I have been told it will all have been worthwhile. The developer does recognise that the levels of communication to clients has been far from satisfactory and intends to put this right in the very near future. The delays were caused because of a corrupt government minister in the DR not only preventing us, but another 140 projects in the DR from getting the Confotur, but also in allowing us to go ahead with construction. This minister is no longer in office nor in any position of political strength. Upon getting into office, the new Minister for Tourism arranged immediately for the Confotur to be granted to Punta Perla and to allow construction to get underway.
Construction IS now underway and completion of the first phase which includes the Marina, Star Island and the first Golf course are expected within 24 months. There is enough money in place now to build out the whole of the first phase which includes all of our properties and the supporting facilities.
When construction did originally commence back in January 2007, the previous minister instructed the developer to cease straight away or risk imprisonment of anyone on the site as well as the developer himself. The same minister was also threatening that if construction did commence that the project would never go ahead. The developer of our project has done what no other developers would probably do which is stick by the project 100% within the boundaries of the law to protect our investments and for the good of the project. I have been assured by the developer that the developer owns 100% of the land and that we have all of the permits to build as well as the Confotur. The developer has suggested that all of the documents which prove: Title to Land, Permits etc will be available for solicitors and a limited number of "independent parties" to inspect on the basis of the technicality of these documents. These parties will no doubt report their findings upon some of the forums discussing Punta Perla or even communicate with you directly via email.
I am conscious that there are a number of justified criticisms on forums such as the Singing Pig and they have been noted, however please be aware that there are a number of scaremongers with nothing better to do than try and stir things up who have nothing better to do than put the heebie jeebies up the Punta Perla investors. The developer is now also focused on pursuing anyone who has tried to damage the project through lies and scare tactics with criminal prosecution to make sure that these people get what they deserve.
I am now waiting on a formal reply to the list of questions which were forwarded to the developer of which there were about 95 in total.
I am pleased to inform you that the Dominican Minister for Investment who is the Presidents number two and right hand man is flying out to Madrid today to meet with the developer and accompany him to China tomorrow on a Punta Perla-specific trade mission to meet with would-be investors.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all concerned for their patience and look forward to communicating some very good news to you all regarding Punta Perla in the very near future.
Kindest regards
Mark Andrew
Emerging Earth Ltd
July 3, 2009
