Paradise Beach Property at Algodoeiro Bay, Sal

Work is progressing at last

A proposed gated enclave of 1 ha on a corner cut out of Cotton Bay by some jiggery-pokery by Spencer Lima. Algodeiro Bay 2 miles north of Santa Maria. The beach is not so much a paradise as it is covered in basaltic, black rocks and large stones below the hig tide mark. It is being developed by Jorge Spencer Lima a Cape Verdean member of the PAICV governing party who has teamed up with a group of Irish investors from Cork. He has recently been attacked in the Cape Verde parliament over his acess to projects and land through his political links. A project manager has been appointed from England but he does not say much. Work has started on fencing off the site,laying the foundations and building the walls of the flats blocks. There will be up to 60 flats in each long terrace block, which could be noisy. Two bed flats of 40 sqm will cost £75,000 and three bed flats £180,000, on the top floor. A few three bed terrraced villas will be available for £150,000. The four bed detached villas are reserved for the investment consortia subscribers and developers from Cork and have unrealistic prices.

D from Cork is buying at Paradise Beach and felt initially that she had a bargain.

"Paradise Beach cost me €120,000 for 86sqm plus 26sqm of terrace for a frontline development. But Vila Verde is offering prices from €116,000 for 92sqm. This does not seem to be double the price for half the size, but around the same price for an equivalent size."

But she is now having second thoughts

"My solicitor informed me today that only a provisional building licence is in place . Until it has a full licence I should not sign anything nor send off my €29,000 stage payment. A finish date of January 2008 is promised"

R from London is also concerned.

"I spoke to my solicitor who informed me that there are still outstanding issues and that he cannot advise me to proceed until they have been resolved. He is waiting for the construction licence and apparently the land is not currently registered in the company name which appears on the contract."

T from Birmingham thinks it has a better site than Vila Verde.

"Sal is mainly desert! From the airport, you drive through desert to Santa Maria. On the way the land is extremely flat, although there are a couple of small oases. Santa Maria is OK. Very friendly people. Bars and restaurants serve excellent food - particularly the fish. The beach is wonderful and the sea is really clear. My daughter went swimming and we could actually see her body through the breaking waves! There is always a cool breeze, so although it's hot and sunny, you don't really feel it. There was a power cut while we were in Santa Maria - lasted 36 hours, but I understand that this is unusual. We went out to Murdeira to see the land proposed for the new resort. Again just desert at present. The bay where Paradise Beach is being built is really beautiful. It is in front of the land where Vila Verde is to be built, so although Vila Verde seems to be getting loads of hype through UK real estate agents, Paradise Beach is a much better location. In fact, Vila Verde residents have to pass through other developments to get to the beach."

M from Cork feels happy that problems are now sorted out.

"I have purchased 2 units in the resort for a number of reasons. 1. The project is bonded to guarantee delivery of your unit. 2. The project is being supervised by ECP who have done work on many international projects in the past. 3. The resort is a genuine front line site. My solicitor has checked all of the documentation and confirmed that all is in order with planning etc. It did help that I knew the developers by reputation. "

N from Dublin did not think that it was paradise.

"I was there two weeks ago and I was lucky that I wasn`t locked into a contract and have decided to pull out. They have promised that they will remove the rocks and top layer of black volcanic sand greatly to improve the beach. They say it will be totally different. It`s not the beach that let me down: it was the brochure and name "Paradise Beach" that made me feel as if they were trying to make fools of people. I`m going to buy at Santa Maria beach because that lived up to all my expectations. "

C from Ireland has checked the beach.

"I went down to beach on Sunday; wanted to go for swim; couldn`t even get into water because of rocks, if you dont believe me go look yourself."

E from London has second thoughts

"I think Vila do Atlantico looks a great development. I've already bought a couple of places including Paradise Beach but I rather wish I'd held out for Vila Do Atlantico. I went up to a presentation London a few months ago , The developer was a very engaging fellow. Honestly, he was Italian and he had us all in fits of laughter. I think it's a great location that they've got in Santa Maria. I'm going out there next week and to look at how Paradise Beach is coming on and flying to Sao Vicente to look at our other site. I think I might check out the site for Vila Do Atlantico while I'm there! "