Randall Pacific buys

main hotels in Cooks

AN Australian company has announced it will buy the two largest hotels in the Cook Islands from the Government. The Gold Coast-based Randall Pacific Ltd will acquire the country’s main hotel, the Rarotongan, and the Aitutaki Lagoon Resort.

Randall Pacific, which is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, has several hotel properties in Australia. The company plans to spend US$5 million

upgrading the Rarotongan, but its major

spending will be at the Aitutaki resort

which will require about US$22 million before refurbishment is finished. The resort now has 25 bure -styled huts, and Randall Pacific plans to construct 120 new bure units on the lagoon edge. The local airport will be upgraded so that Air Rarotonga can fly larger aircraft into the island. The resort is located on an untouched part of Aitutaki the lagoon is considered one of the more beautiful in the South Pacific and the waters are shark-free. The resort has had a short but chequered life: the accommodation has not been considered up to

international tourist standards, it was damaged by cyclone winds and financial problems led to the resort being placed in the hands of the Cook Islands

Development Bank.

The Cook Islands agreement is Randall Pacific’s first investment in the South Pacific islands. The company had

been considering hotel acquisition in Fiji

until the possibility of taking over the two Cook Island properties was raised.

The other main hotel project, the Sheraton, is now under way. The first group of workmen from the Italian construction firm Sicel SPA have arrived in Rarotonga. The timing of their arrival was planned to coincide with the berthing of a ship from Italy carrying construction materials and heavy machinery. Land clearing work is already under way on the site.

Meanwhile, business in the Cook Islands has been hit hard by the

electricity generation problems which

have hit Rarotonga after the country’s main generator broke down. Old standby machines were used for several weeks to keep a basic power supply in operation, but most businesses (as well as residences) were subject to blackouts every second day while the crisis lasted.

The problem began when a 1.6 megawatt main generator, which had been installed in February, developed a fault and parts had to be sought in West

Germany and Singapore. Rarotonga’s

power demand reaches 2.2 mW at peak times. The problem became most acute because one of the older 400 kW generators was in pieces as part of an overhaul when the new machine broke down. Then, after it had hastily been reassembled, another 500 kW developed

problems.

The Aitutaki Lagoon Resort: $22 million facelift