Resort owners deny project abandoned
- Published on Wednesday, 23 October 2013 01:38
- Hits: 8
Jewel of Mabul Development Sdn Bhd - the
owners and developers of the RM200 million Alorie Lepa Lepa - denied
that the project has been abandoned as claimed in the Internet and
newspapers that picked up the report.
The developers expressed surprise over the allegations relating to its luxury resort off Mabul Island.
"We
wish to point out that we are unaware of any attempts to contact us for
any information or clarification on the status of the project prior to
the publication," they said in a statement, Tuesday.
They also denied there were sale and
lease back agreements or time-share agreements between them and any
Purchaser as the project, which is currently in progress was fully owned
by them.
"We are constructing it based on the
time frame and in compliance with the development plan approval.
Although the project is earmarked as an Entry Point Project (EPP) under
the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), we have not been granted,
nor utilised any public fund for the project.
"All development costs to date has been
fully self-funded," they said after paying a courtesy call to State
Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun, Tuesday,
to explain the situation.
According to them, the project was
implemented in two phases with Phase I currently in progress. The piling
activity for Phase 1 was completed recently in July 2013 and the
contractor had since demobilised from the site.
The temporary stoppage of work was a
normal physical construction interface between piling works and the
installation of superstructure.
"lt is therefore false that the project
was abandoned as claimed. We may experience slight delays due to the
various factors affecting the project and the area; which is expected of
a project of such magnitude and logistical challenges.
"Nevertheless, as is normally expected
of this sort of projects, other construction interfaces continue mostly
off site,l' they said. The project development plan was approved by the
Government after a very stringent and detailed Environmental Impact
Assessment (EIA) study conducted by an international consultant.
"Prior to commencement of works on site,
we undertook a baseline survey of the whole island detailing the
environmental degradation caused by the existing structures, kampungs
and resorts.
"Throughout the construction process,
monthly environmental monitoring is conducted by both an independent
environmental consultant and our in-house marine environmental team,
with the environmental compliance report submitted regularly to the
Environment Protection Department," they said.
In this respect, they said their office
was always open during normal working hours and the media was welcome to
contact them for clarification before publishing reports relating to
the company and its project.
They also said that subject to advice
from their lawyers, they would not hesitate to take appropriate action
to protect their rights and restore their image.
Extracted from DailyExpress
Update :17 oct 2013 -
No clue on status of RM280mil resort
Published on: Thursday, October 17, 2013
|
None of the company's top management were available for comments, including its Chief Executive Officer, who was said to be outstation by a staff.
She was also unable to provide further contact details of the officials.
State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun also said he is not in the know of the progress of the project.
"Some say delayed," he said, without explaining further.
Based on the blog entry on Tuesday by a group called "Concerned Tour Operators" the resort in Mabul was abandoned six months ago inspite of its completion scheduled for early 2014.
Only piling columns stretching about a kilometre into the sea were seen at the project site as of date, posing adverse environmental impacts the group claimed.
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Today’s
Daily Express in the front page (see below), there was a small article on two tourism
projects as considered abandoned, and both can be also considered eco tourism
projects. They are known as Resort
Aleria Lepa-Lepa Resort on Mabul and Kudat Riveria Resort Villa. Why they are abandoned is unknown except
there were some buyers for the projects.
Who are the foreigners as investor are also not known. We should pursue more details on the
abandonement.
Against
this background, we have in Tanjung Aru beach, Kota Kinabalu another similar
eco tourism project known as Tanjung Aru Eco development or TAED (???) as launched on the Malaysia Day 2013. Protests against taed for lack of information
had been raised. Would TAED end up like
the two projects mentioned above? If that happen, it would be eye sores for
all. All we need to do at Tanjung Aru
beach is reasonable improvement ecologically and cleanilness.
Consumers
are still waiting for the public dialogue as promised by the CM.
The reported, filed by so-called Sabah-based "Concerned Tour Operators", said they fear 'the manner in which the project was abandoned reminds them of another controversial tourism-related project, the Kudat Riveria Resort Villa, which was launched in 2006 but abandoned after the United Kingdom-based project owner allegedly absconded, after having sold most of the units there.
Their fear is that, Alorie Lepa Lepa Resort, which sprawled over 32.37 hectres, and boast 88 pool villas with a minimum price tag of RM3.1 million, may end up like the Kudat Riveria Resort Villa project.
Already, 40 out of the 88 villas had been sold on a leaseback basis.
The built-ups are between 2,200 and 500 sq ft with prices from RM2.8m to RM5.5m for each unit, in addition to a honeymoon suite which will not be sold.
The project, listed under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's Economic Transformation Program (ETP), is implemented with a time-sharing concept with option to purchase units as service lots managed by Alorie Hospitality, a Caucasian chain, identifying Jean Marc Lafosse as it founder and CEO.
A buyer would receive seven per cent returns on investment per annum for the first five years and from the sixth year, the returns are expected to be higher. Facilities would include a state-of-art underwater restaurant, a spa, scuba diving centre and a marine conservation centre.
However, Concerned Tour Operators claimed that when they visited the project site recently to check the progress whether it would be ready for next year's Visit Malaysian Year 2014, they were shocked the site riddled with thousands of huge concrete piling columns protruding from the seabed out of the water surface, spanning about 1 kilometre long.
Locals told them the project was abandoned six months ago, the contractors had left, the CEO of the developer company (a Sabahan) is out of reach, they claimed.
"As now, all that were left behind are thousands of huge concrete pilling columns which are not only a terrible eyesore and a 'monument' of shame, worse still, a potential environmental disaster! they claimed. The group called for a serious and urgent government intervention to break the rot before further damage.
"If one look at the video footages, the presence of existing tour operators' chalets in Mabul island is already a complete environmental disaster if one can imagine the volume of sewage produced daily! The abandoned piling further aggravated the situation," Concerned Tour Operators added.
Yet the lofty founding intentions were that this project would "set a benchmark in Malaysia for a sustainable tourism development that fulfills the highest standards of implementation, administration and monitoring, and will have minimum impact on the physical, ecological and socio-economic aspects of Pulau Mabul," the operators quoted a Jewel Mabul website.
http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=86905
RM200m resort project poser
Published on: Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Kota Kinabalu: A report posted on the Net claims that the RM200m
five-star Resort Alorie Lepa Lepa Resort on Mabul designed to establish
Semporna as a Borneo Marine Paradise has been abandoned for six months
while its Chief Executive Officer (named) cannot be reached. The reported, filed by so-called Sabah-based "Concerned Tour Operators", said they fear 'the manner in which the project was abandoned reminds them of another controversial tourism-related project, the Kudat Riveria Resort Villa, which was launched in 2006 but abandoned after the United Kingdom-based project owner allegedly absconded, after having sold most of the units there.
Their fear is that, Alorie Lepa Lepa Resort, which sprawled over 32.37 hectres, and boast 88 pool villas with a minimum price tag of RM3.1 million, may end up like the Kudat Riveria Resort Villa project.
Already, 40 out of the 88 villas had been sold on a leaseback basis.
The built-ups are between 2,200 and 500 sq ft with prices from RM2.8m to RM5.5m for each unit, in addition to a honeymoon suite which will not be sold.
The project, listed under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's Economic Transformation Program (ETP), is implemented with a time-sharing concept with option to purchase units as service lots managed by Alorie Hospitality, a Caucasian chain, identifying Jean Marc Lafosse as it founder and CEO.
A buyer would receive seven per cent returns on investment per annum for the first five years and from the sixth year, the returns are expected to be higher. Facilities would include a state-of-art underwater restaurant, a spa, scuba diving centre and a marine conservation centre.
However, Concerned Tour Operators claimed that when they visited the project site recently to check the progress whether it would be ready for next year's Visit Malaysian Year 2014, they were shocked the site riddled with thousands of huge concrete piling columns protruding from the seabed out of the water surface, spanning about 1 kilometre long.
Locals told them the project was abandoned six months ago, the contractors had left, the CEO of the developer company (a Sabahan) is out of reach, they claimed.
"As now, all that were left behind are thousands of huge concrete pilling columns which are not only a terrible eyesore and a 'monument' of shame, worse still, a potential environmental disaster! they claimed. The group called for a serious and urgent government intervention to break the rot before further damage.
"If one look at the video footages, the presence of existing tour operators' chalets in Mabul island is already a complete environmental disaster if one can imagine the volume of sewage produced daily! The abandoned piling further aggravated the situation," Concerned Tour Operators added.
Yet the lofty founding intentions were that this project would "set a benchmark in Malaysia for a sustainable tourism development that fulfills the highest standards of implementation, administration and monitoring, and will have minimum impact on the physical, ecological and socio-economic aspects of Pulau Mabul," the operators quoted a Jewel Mabul website.
http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=86905
