SANTO DOMINGO– With an area encompassing 9.6 million square meters, including the construction of 4,000 hotel rooms, 16,849 residential units, a film studio to be developed by Vin Diesel's One Race Films company, and an 18-hole golf course, the government of President Luis Abinader seeks to reclaim Puerto Plata, the pioneering province of vacation tourism in the Dominican Republic, as a leading destination.
Punta Bergantín is the ambitious project with which the government intends to relaunch tourism in Puerto Plata for the second time. The project is planned to be developed in three stages, the first of which will begin in 2023, according to the presentation of the master plan, which was attended by developers and investors.
Abinader led the activity alongside the Minister of Tourism, David Collado, and Samuel Pereyra, general manager of the Banco de Reservas.
Phases
The first phase includes the seaside village, hotel development, and access roads. It will begin sometime in 2023 with credit backing from Banco de Reservas, whose administrator, Samuel Pereyra, described it as one of the most important and ambitious projects.
The second phase will develop the golf course and real estate projects, while the third phase will be mixed use, residential and commercial.
As for the film studies, these will cover all three phases.
More details
The offer is complemented by an academic campus to promote education and innovation, an industrial hub, a commercial urban center and a real estate tourism development area.
The project is synchronized with the Amber Highway, which, according to the president, will connect Santiago with Puerto Plata in about 30 minutes.
The president noted that the project has an appropriate design that respects the environment, ensures an excellent quality of life in the real estate sector, and a good experience for tourists in the hotel sector.
In addition, special incentives will be offered to help development companies achieve great success.
The land was acquired in 2021 by Banreservas, a banking entity that will provide credit support to interested investors, according to Pereyra.
Tourism Minister David Collado explained that experts from Canada and Europe are in the country to help define the best strategy for choosing the name for the relaunch of tourism in the "Bride of the Atlantic," whether it should be Puerto Plata or PuntaBergantín.
He said that the implementation of the Punta Bergantín project is expected to create 83,250 jobs.
Interested investors
Immediately after the presentation of the master plan concluded, the head of state held a private meeting with investors interested in the project, including several private developers from the Dominican Republic such as Álvaro Peña, president of the CODELPA group, as well as representatives of the North American hotel franchise, Planet Hollywood, operated by the Sunwing group.
