Alorie Lepa Lepa Resort – just another mega tourism and investment scam?

ARCHIVES 2013

By admin-s On Oct 16, 2013

This certainly does not augur well for the Visit Malaysia Year 2014. How does the State government expect us tour operators to promote the Mabul Island which is now as good as ruined, ironically by a dubious project of its namesake?

Without Prejudice

Note: The following expose was emailed to us today with a brief that the scam might be perpetrated by high-powered people.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8tJEKbpMRIQ/Ulu4kRCH6sI/AAAAAAAADm0/Xzk16OJy36g/s640/water+land+with+floating+lounge.jpg

“Your garden will be made of corals and when you wake up in the morning, you’ll have the pristine sea of Mabul Island and Celebes Sea in front of you!”.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DTUOVQ7AKnw/Ulu5i6JPFJI/AAAAAAAADnA/zQT-kuXqpis/s640/signature+underwater+restaurant.jpg

These were the exact words of Jean Marc Lafosse, Founder and CEO of Alorie Hospitality during an interview with Astro Awani’s “In Reality” program on 11 April 2012, to promote the Alorie Lepa Lepa Resort which is located on the world-famous Mabul Island and some 20 kilometres away from Malaysia’s ‘crown jewel’ diving resort – Sipadan Island.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z2wrww9Tbno/Ulu5sJNZ0bI/AAAAAAAADnI/dHM20NMoty8/s640/artist+impression+main.jpg

During the said interview, Laffose also disclosed that the RM200 million five-star resort on Mabul Island that is being developed by Sabah-based Jewel of Mabul Development Sdn Bhd (Jewel of Mabul) was supposed to be completed in January 2014.

A project listed under the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s much-publicised Economic Transformation Program (ETP), it is among the other initiatives identified to serve as catalysts to establish Semporna as Borneo’s Marine Paradise. The other initiaties are the Sipadan Mangrove Resort, and Mount Conner Tourism Hub.

Unfortunately, when a group of us (Sabah-based tour operators) visited the project site recently to check out the progress of the project whether it would be ready to carter for our guests during next year’s Visit Malaysia Year, we were shocked by what we found there. The place was riddle with thousand of huge concrete piling columns protruding from the seabed out to the water surface, spanning about 1 kilometer long, from one end to another.