Fairway Cactus
He says the hulking Russian bulldozers were constantly breaking down, the project frequently ground to a halt while officials looked for diesel fuel or batteries, and after the Party had vetted every detail of the site, he had to modify his design when officials refused to allow the removal of 15-foot cacti in the fairways.
“It took nine years,’’ Furber said.
Some analysts say the Caribbean golf market is saturated: The Dominican Republic has 28 courses, Puerto Rico 20, the Bahamas 11 and Jamaica 10, according to consultancy KPMG.
Others say that will not stop Cuba.
“It’s my own belief that Cuba will dominate Caribbean tourism over the next 20 years,” David I. McMillan, president of Ontario-based consultancy AXIS Hospitality International, who has consulted in Cuba, said. “If the Cubans can get it right, they will be able to orchestrate a huge golf market there,” after ferry service from Florida is restored.
London and Regional’s struggles with Carbonera show that, so far, little has changed since Furber built the Varadero course. Originally controlled by a Spanish group called Esencia Hotels and Resorts, the project was slated to open in 2011. After those plans collapsed, London and Regional in 2013 bought into the joint venture with Grupo Empresarial Extrahotelero Palmares SA, which owns 51 percent of the project. Palmares, the state-owned company in charge of developing golf courses, did not respond to repeated calls for comment.
London and Regional has worked with the Cuban government to design a course that meets strict environmental standards and can survive the inevitable hurricanes that pummel the island every few years. Though the company planned to break ground in the first quarter of 2016, the site remains a grassy field dotted with palm trees abutting a coastline of black volcanic rock. The developer now hopes to break ground later this year and open by 2018.