A Reality

Pacific Harbour

Is Already

By a staff writer

Fiji residents have already

committed $F425,000 to buying

residential blocks in the Pacific Harbour development at Deuba.

South Pacific sales manager for Pacific Hotels and Developments Ltd., Mr. Charles Scott, said recently that 31 blocks have been sold to locals.

Overseas sales totalled at least 70.

More than 150 men are at work on the 1,100-acre site and 10 sample houses are due to be completed within a year.

Anyone driving past the site of the $2OO million development now might find it hard to envisage the yacht-dotted waterways, supermarkets, gracious homes and expensive swim ming pools of the future—but people are paying out from $7,200 to $28,000 for the 1,300 residential blocks. They are blessed with foresight as well as money.

Mr. Scott said the sample house had not yet been costed, but buyers could choose their own construction company. He predicts that all the residential blocks will be sold in about two years. He confirmed that there has been interest in commercial ventures at Pacific Harbour, but the company had stopped negotiations on all commercial and high-density sites until policy, and the needs of the area, were clarified.

In recent weeks Project Develop ment Corporation Ltd., the Austra lian company with the $6,500,000 contract for the first stage of the Pacific Harbour scheme, has been moving in men and machinery. It will be building about 400 flats at Deuba over the next five years, in addition to roads, sewage plants and waterways.

American Airlines is to manage the first of the five projected hotels for Pacific Harbour on the site of the old Beachcomber Hotel. It will be called the Flagship Beachcomber, costing SUS 2.3 million, and first stage, to be completed at the end of 1971, includes 84 rooms.

It’s the airline’s second venture along its new Pacific routes; it opened the Ala Moana in Honolulu in August.

Land for the entire Pacific Harbour project was bought outright from the original owners for about $3.4 million and some 1,000 Fijians will

e employed on construction work nd maintaining the completed roject, which will have facilities to srve a community of 10,000 people.

Company behind the project, Pacific lotels and Development Ltd., is wned by Canadian businessmen 4H per cent.), a banking consortium eaded by Slater Walker Securities f London (4 U Per cent.) and ardine Matheson of Hong Kong per cent.) and P & O Steam hip Lines (1U per cent.).

At a recent Sydney Press con srence, men representing all these ompanies explained the project; but Canadian businessman, Peter Munk, id most of the hard talking. He ointed out that this was the biggest evelopment of its kind ever seen a the South Pacific and, between Revision interviews, made sure the •ress knew it.