Patrick Herminie, Seychelles’ president-elect, says one of his first acts in office will be to stop construction of a controversial Qatari-funded luxury resort on Assumption Island. This project is seemed to have caused some rifts by dividing families, stir political debate and raise an alarmed environmental concern.
Herminie, who will be sworn in on October 26, told the BBC in interview that the current Qatari-funded luxury resort deal gave Seychelles peanuts in return for leasing one of its most fragile islands. “What has been built has been built and that is it,” he declared, promising to freeze further construction and renegotiate with investors.
The development, which is a 40-villa resort backed by Qatar’s Assets Group, has been under fire for threatening the delicate ecosystem near the Aldabra atoll, home to hundreds of rare species found nowhere else on Earth. Critics say the project risks turning a national treasure into a private enclave for the wealthy.
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