St Kitts has secured a deal to build a Park Hyatt resort by offering citizenship to investors to finance the project.Dubai’s Range Developments and US-based Kiawah Partners have signed on as developers of what’s said to be a $200-million project.The project will be financed through the St Kitts and Nevis Citizenship by Investment Programme through the sale of individual shares for $400,000.The announcement was made during a news conference at the Park Hyatt Dubai, attended by St Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Dr Denzil Douglas.In Dubai, Mr Douglas said: “We are extremely pleased to welcome the prestigious Park Hyatt brand and Range Developments to the island of St Kitts. “This project will further advance our government’s economic transformation of St Kitts since the closure of the sugar industry in 2005.”Pat McCudden, senior vice president at Hyatt Hotels & Resorts told the news conference: “Park Hyatt St Kitts will continue our company’s tradition of delivering an unprecedented level of luxury and unrivalled hospitality experience. Park Hyatt St Kitts will be designed to provide an intimate, contemporary resort environment, with touches of the local culture — a perfect sanctuary for our discerning guests.”Mr McCudden flew to Bermuda in October 2010 to announce with former Premier Ewart Brown and developer Carl Bazarian that Park Hyatt was to be an operator/equity partner in a resort slated for the old Club Med site. That project has yet to break ground.Under St Kitts’ investment programme, individuals can become eligible for citizenship in St Kitts and Nevis by making a qualifying investment.Construction on Christophe Harbour Park Hyatt resort project is already under way.The Park Hyatt project, which will be developed by Range Developments and Kiawah Partners, will include 200 rooms and 50 Park Hyatt-branded residential condominiums.The hotel will be constructed in two phases. The first phase will include the completion of 125 guestrooms by the end of 2014, two food and beverage outlets, a fitness centre, a 12-treatment room spa, and more than 7,000 square feet of meeting and banquet space.The second phase will include the completion of the remaining 75 guestrooms and a third food and beverage outlet.Christophe Harbour is a 2,500-acre resort community on the southeast peninsula of 65-square-mile St Kitts.Developed by Christophe Harbour Development Company, a subsidiary of South Carolina’s Kiawah Partners, the Harbour is home to private homes, an emerging 300-slip superyacht marina and village, Tom Fazio golf course, award-winning restaurants, and private membership club.Ownership of a share in the hotel project confers on one the right to become eligible for citizenship of St Kitts & Nevis.The St Kitts government provides the following information about its citizenship by investment programme.“The Federation of St Kitts & Nevis established the Citizenship by Investment programme in 1984 to encourage resort development, stimulate the growth of the tourism industry, and attract investors. By making a qualifying purchase in an approved project, such as Park Hyatt St Kitts, investors become eligible to apply for citizenship.“The St Kitts & Nevis government allows dual citizenship and will not publish any information about persons acquiring citizenship nor will they inform your present country of citizenship.“Your family can also obtain citizenship and passports under your application. Qualified dependents can include parents above the age of 65 and children up to 25 years of age with additional government fees payable.“To qualify for the investment programme, you need to make a minimum investment of USD$400,000 in a government-approved real estate project, such as Park Hyatt St Kitts. In addition, you need to pay other fees and taxes as applicable and fulfill the formal requirements as identified per the government.“Government approvals and processing may take about three to four months from the submission of your application.“The various benefits of having a St Kitts passport include visa-free travel to 139 countries, tax free status, tax-free trade with Canada, duty-free trade within the Caribbean, and more.“No interview is required with the government. You can reside in St Kitts and Nevis at any time for any length of time. You are not liable to pay tax if you chose to reside in St Kitts.”After five years, the share in the resort can be sold, and the process can be repeated.The deal seems to have some opposition locally, with a writer for the St Kitts-Nevis Observer asking in an article on Friday: “But what I’d like to know most is what kind of share are the people of this country to get out of these deals, other than this steady share of licks, disrespect and indignity that they’ve been getting?“Will our Tourism Minister be able to help fill these proposed hotel rooms when, as we speak, there are over 400 hotel rooms in St Kitts that are occupied by students instead of tourists? Will our people get jobs, or will they continue to be made second class citizens?“Will those who do get work have to endure three-, and four-day work weeks in the height of the winter season? Will the Park Hyatt follow the bad example and hold on to the VAT (formerly 10 percent room tax) for its own use. In the end, who will benefit from this? If the people of this nation don’t, and in a major way, then what’s the point?”Meanwhilea former St Kitts government minister claimed the resort was being built on property embroiled in litigation with Kiawah.