My wife and I had arranged to see the Punta Perla construction site less than three weeks before going to Punta Cana. Eva Sotres from Punta Perla Investor Relations reminded us that visits should really be arranged with at least three weeks' notice, but still she was kind enough to book this extraordinary tour for July 22, 2009.
Inside Punta Perla the main road is still not laid. Prior to arriving at the fenced construction site, we checked the workers quarters, which are being built right now.
Workers Quarters
Gate
Office
Inside of the gate we found the portable office and several (I think seven) two and three bedroom villas in different phases of construction.
Samples
Villas will be serving as a show homes for the project, so if you are arranging a visit at the end of this year, you will be able to stay in one of the villas.
First Row Villas
On the construction site we met the Supervising Engineer from Punta Perla. His name is Ramon Cos. He was supervising workers from the Dominican construction company Osoria - a large infrastructure contractor builder with a lot of experience and equipment. They have built many bridges, asphalt roads and general infrastructure.
According to Ramon the first villa will be COMPLETELY finished within three weeks.
First Row Villas
Second Row Villas
Construction of the Beach Club will start very soon, but will take longer than initially predicted because of the scale of the new project.
Especially difficult and expensive will be delivery of special roof, developed and produced in France. The Beach Club will also house a big restaurant for 200- 300 people. Also according to the new plan Punta Perla offices will be moved from the Club building and located separately.
Excavation of the new Marina is about to start with the coral aggregate excavated from it used to provide cladding for the buildings as well as other building materials.
The first phase of the Marina will consist of the original apartments and star Island and will represent about 1/4 of the total of the whole marina. This is expected to take about 24 months.
The only part of Punta perla which will be open to the general public will be the commercial and retail areas. It's quite different from Cap Cana marina, I think.
All of the living areas and Star Island will be accessible to Punta Perla owners only.
We have seen only about 20 - 30 workers busy with construction, including several people in the office, not hundreds or thousands, but apparently the real construction started just one week before our visit and supposed to pick up.
Supervising Engineer Ramon Cos in his Office
In the office
We stayed in the Tropical Princess hotel and I don't think we will stay in this place the next time. If you stay in Catalonia Bavaro Hotel, you can still go to the construction site by foot and see that is going with construction and take your pictures from behind of wire fence. But it's much better to arrange an official tour with Eva Sotres, as we did.
Alex Bezborodko
SunnyComfort.com
