by JULIE WILSON

THE PLUSH $140 million Sam Lord's Castle is expected to welcome its first guests in 2011.

Chairman of CLICO Holdings (Barbados) Limited, Leroy Parris, speaking to reporters at the end of the CLICO agents' quarterly meeting at Accra Beach Hotel and Resort yesterday, said construction was expected to start on the 53-acre facility in August and be completed in three years' time without any cost overruns.

CLICO, which is a financial services company, shelled out $33 million to purchase the hotel and secured a further $21 million in 2005 to clear off a debt allegedly left by the former company Marriotts Corporation of the United States, which then sold it to Grant Hotels Inc., run by local businessman Tom Grant.

Parris said the Sam Lord's project, a mixture of 200 condos and the hotel, was the No.1 priority for the group.

He said the plans for the condos had already been approved by the Town Planning Department and by month-end the hotel's plans would be approved as well.

He also said that work would be done by local artisans and gave an insight into the three-tiered construction plan.

"I want to have a group working on the hotel, and another group working on the condos, and I also want to have a group working on the refurbishment of the Castle because I have to refurbish the Castle as well," he said.

"Barbados is where we live, and where we were born and we have to certify that we have fulfilled our commitment with employment here in Barbados and that is my intention.

"All the people whom I have hired are all local labour. I do not know what I can tell you about any foreign labour; when I get to that bridge I will cross it . . . ," he stressed.

The financial woes of the historic 19th Century Sam Lord's Castle – once the toast of the island's hospitality industry – were first highlighted in the Press in June 2003, when some of its furniture and equipment were scheduled to be auctioned.

This followed its failure to pay $250 000 in contributions and interest to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS).

It was stated in a paid advertisement that the debt owed to the NIS was $2 445 940.84.

Later that year, chartered accountant Richard Lynch filed documents with the Supervisor of Insolvency on behalf of Grant Hotels Inc., the hotel's company.

That filing by Sam Lord's effectively curtailed the auction sale by the Chief Marshal of the Supreme Court on behalf of the NIS, and the possible foreclosure by the Barbados National Bank to protect its interest in the sprawling St Philip property.