Tahiti tourism project on track despite land seizure hiccup

8:24 pm on 16 August 2017

Reports from Tahiti have revealed the forced sale of a piece of land for a huge tourism project in 2015 was against the law.

The planned construction site of the tourism complex "Mahana Beach", with the derelict Sofitel Hotel in the background.

The planned construction site of the tourism complex "Mahana Beach", with the derelict Sofitel Hotel in the background. Photo: AFP

Radio 1 said the agency acting on behalf of the government, TNAD, lacked the proper authority.

In April, the appeal court in France overturned an order to take the plot for the Mahana Beach project on Tahiti.

It had been touted as the biggest project of its kind in all of France at a cost of more than $US2 billion.

The decision, however, had little consequence as the deadline for landowners to challenge the expropriation had passed.

Since its inception the TNAD project has been scaled back and renamed the Tahitian Village.

Various new options are being considered after the Mahana Beach project floundered for financial reasons.

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