127 book Eden Island properties |21 September 2006

According to Peter Smith, the company’s head of marketing, 55 percent of the customers are from South Africa, while 20 percent are from UK and 10 percent from Australia, with others making up 10 percent.

“Five percent are Seychellois, who in their case have paid R30,000,” he said.
The developers, Eden Island, have been granted a 99-year lease on the 48-hectare island by the Seychelles government, and plan to build 480 villas and condominiums as well as restaurants, shops and a hotel.

The company is expected to pay $50 million to Seychelles.
“There has been a lot of interest internationally, and a total of 127 clients, including seven Seychellois, have each paid $5,000 non-refundable reservation fee,” Mr Smith said Wednesday September 20, as he took representatives of all media houses in Seychelles around the project.

He said that development of the island, which will cost the company $350 million, has already started, adding that although many of the residential units cost around $800,000 each, there are some going for a bit more and many which will cost much less.

“The housing units range from one, to six bedrooms, and are going for an average of $4,000 per square metre.

He said that Barclays Bank is financing the project, in which each house will have its own mooring.

The company has already completed a bridge linking the new island to main island, Mahe, and an administration office block, and expects the first houses to be ready in May 2007.

During a presentation he made to the reporters, the chief executive officer of Eden Island, Craig Heeger, said that the company expects Seychelles' economy to grow rapidly.

“We see the economy of Seychelles growing exponentially within the next 10 years,” he said, before showing the reporters around the development, where they saw new plant nurseries and an area where an underground parking will be constructed for the commercial area.

Noting that Eden Island has already donated an ambulance to Seychelles, he said that the company will also donate dustbins, in its efforts to “make a difference in the community.”