By JESSAN DOTON

An artist’s impression of the new Palms Apartments to be developed on Denarau Island.

There is no stopping Denarau Island’s growth, as two new developments on the integrated Island resort are set to take shape this year.

Investor confidence is thriving in Nadi’s most popular tourist destination.

Work on separate multi-million dollar accommodation properties; a hotel and an apartment complex, is set to launch later this year.

Not just a hive of foreign investor activity, Denarau has of late attracted a significant amount of local investors.

The Fiji Sun has managed to obtain documentation that confirms a new hotel development on the vacant site adjacent to the Port Denarau retail and commercial area.

This is believed to be being developed by Automart Group. We are yet to get a response to questions sent to Automart Group management.

Documents on the hotel development show that it is to have three levels, with the ground floor housing the administration and retail outlets, and the two upper floors consisting of 80 hotel-type accommodations per floor, totaling 160 rooms.

There are also provisions for 92 car parking spaces on the plan.

Additional facilities include conference rooms, bar and restaurant, retail shops and boutiques.

The rooms will be more suited to short-stay customers who require the bare minimum in facilities, or as mid to long term staffing accommodation for the island property tenants.

The drafts and plans are believed to currently be with the Denarau Corporation Limited’s board, supporting the Outline Planning Approval, as part of the appropriate processes for consent.

Meanwhile, right across the road to this is the proposed development for ‘The Palms’, which is to be a tourist apartment complex.

The proposed site is the vacant plot directly opposite The Terraces, also across from Port Denarau.

Also covering three levels, it is to have a total of 29 apartments across these floors, and will have an administration office and bistro, as well as a swimming pool, according to architectural sketches obtained by this paper.

We are able to confirm that major businessman Hari Punja is one of the directors of this upcoming property.

We spoke to Mr Punja on Friday afternoon, who verified that The Palms is due to be launched in June this year.

In addition to the two mentioned developments, there is also the takeover and development of the Fiji Beach Resort and Spa managed by Hilton by the local Vision Group, which proves all the more positive for Fiji’s trade and industry.

Another major boost for tourism growth is the 100 Sands Casino Resort which was formalised earlier this year and will be build at Denarau.