China to spend $1-bn. on massive Caribbean resort

Chinese investors are to plunge more than US$1 billion into developing Antigua and Barbuda's first mega-resort, creating 1,000 jobs for the tiny cash-strapped nation. Construction on the mammoth 1,600-acre (647-hectare) multi-hotel, residential and commercial project is slated to begin early next year. The 'Singulari' scheme -- 50 per cent bigger than the regionally-heralded Baha Mar resort under way in the Bahamas -- is being lauded as a major feather in the East Caribbean country's tourism cap. Spanning 900 acres of land in the north of Antigua and 700 acres of tiny islands, it will include several luxury hotels, hundreds of private homes, a school, hospital, marinas, golf courses, an entertainment district, horse racing track and the Caribbean's biggest casino. It is being created on land previously owned by disgraced US financier Allen Stanford, once Antigua's largest employer, according to AFP.