Preparations for the implementation of an ultra-modern tourist resort project off the coast of seaside Ogun Waterside council area of Ogun State, has started.

A Greek firm, Pantheon Development Company, handler of the $500 million project spoke of plans to transform the site, Laogo Island into a world class tourists’ haven. Unveiling the project at the recently held 3rd Ogun Investment and Economic Summit, officials of the firm listed the facilities billed for the site to include: a world-class golf course, holiday apartments, shopping malls, cinema, amusement parks, sporting facilities and world-class conference centers.

According to the officials, the first phase of the project would soon take off the ground with the turning of the sod by Governor Gbenga Daniel. Former Cross River State Governor, Donald Duke, who chaired the session on tourism at the summit, said Ogun was on the right track by taking advantage of its location and its nearness to water to develop its tourism potentials.

Duke recounted that the Tinapa Resort, which his administration conceptualized and developed, was a necessity, admitting that tourism remained a bigger business which could generate substantial investment and income if well packaged. According to him, the Gateway State , with its strategic location could, with a project in tourism on the Laogo Island , become a great hub for first class tourism and a dominant force in the West African sub region.

He said the Ogun governor deserved commendation for laying a solid foundation for the development of the state’s tourism potentials, saying the development of ecotourism in the state was critical and promising.
The Economic Adviser to Daniel, Yosola Akinbi, said the development of the Laogo Island ecotourism site which her boss discovered during his 2003 gubernatorial campaign would be largely private sector driven with the state using the land on which the projects will be developed as its own equity.

Already, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) had been signed by government official and representatives of the Pantheon Development Company to incorporate a joint venture company.

Expectedly, the multi-million dollar project would represent a major breakthrough in Daniel’s administration’s drive for private-public sectors partnership, even as the economic adviser informed that the project would enlist Ogun State on the international tourism map, just like Tinapa promoted Cross River State to global prominence.