Investors salivate over £1.5 billion boost

A little known Cape Verde Island is set to benefit from a huge influx of cash…

Reporting on the expansion of the tourist economy, the Daily Telegraph focused this week on the island of Sal, which thus far has an international airport and a few crowded resorts, plus the topographical advantage of every part of the two-mile wide island offering a sea view.

But all this is due to Change rapidly, the paper notes, with £1.5 billion in private investment lined up for the next five years. New developments will include the Cotton Bay resort, which will comprise 4,000 apartments scattered across a 7,000 acre site, meaning 93 per cent of the land there is not built on and can offer gardens, lakes and of course golf.

Deborah Fox, director of Emerging Real Estate, commented: “The Island can be reached from Britain inside five hours with no jetlag, yet offers year-round sunshine. More importantly, the sort of investment the Telegraph highlighted on Sal, which is also going into other islands such as Boa Vista, indicates that while others are suffering liquidity problems the money is still going into Cape Verde.

"Continuing investment in its infrastructure and better access are all great signs for would-be investors."