The Covid crisis seems to have steered a troubled hotel development in the Cook Islands in a different direction..
The fiasco that was the huge five star Vaima'anga hotel development on Rarotonga fell over half completed 30 years ago when the backers lost the support of their Italian bankers.
Ever since the landowner, paramount chief Pa Ariki, has been seeking other developers to finish the project with governments continuing to push for a major hotel on the site.
Now, as her lawyer, Tim Arnold, explains, the Mark Brown Government is backing a very different scheme.
He spoke with Don Wiseman and started by recounting some of the Vaima'anga's history.
Rarotonga airport Photo: RNZI Walter Zweifel
