Trump eyes £410m golf resort in Puerto Rico

Published on Saturday 16 February 2008 18:58

US TYCOON Donald Trump has announced new plans to extend his golf business with a £410m complex in Puerto Rico.

The Trump International Golf Club is due to be built on the northern coast of the island, on the 1,000-acre site of the former Coco Beach Golf and Country Club.

It will consist of a 36-hole course and around 500 holiday homes. The homes are expected to cost at least 950,000 and will have access to private jet, yachting and limousine services.

Puerto Rico, a US territory in the northeast Caribbean, is seeking a major boost to its economy and the Trump Organisation investment is expected to bring a large increase in tourism.

Trump's plans to build "the world's greatest golf club" on the Menie Estate, on the coast north of Aberdeen, are awaiting a decision by finance secretary John Swinney after the local council rejected the application.

The proposed resort, which includes plans to build a five-star hotel, 500 luxury homes and 950 timeshare apartments, was lauded by business leaders as a vital economic boost to the region.

But council planners rejected the plans, saying they would cause irrevocable damage to an important ecological habitat and area of natural beauty.

Trump's Scottish woes continued last week after it emerged the coat of arms used to promote his Aberdeenshire resort has not been registered and, therefore, is illegal under Scots law.

Scotland's heraldic authority has the power, under the 300-year-old law, to fine Trump or destroy the emblem unless he pays the 1,200 registration fee.