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Bick’s big new plan for Mayaro
by
Peter Christopher
13 hours ago
After changing the shape of the used car parts and foreign used market decades ago, Bickram Ramnarine is hoping his $500 million vision will do the same to the tourism sector on Trinidad’s east coast.
Ramnarine has long been a fan of Mayaro, and over 20 years ago, he purchased land in the area that he visits twice a month to have a good time with friends.
Following the recent opening of a NP service station in Mayaro and the Environmental Management Authority’s provision of a Certificate of Environmental Clearance, Ramnarine has seen a chance to give back to the community in a major way through development.
“I purchased this property about 20-something years ago and I used to go Mayaro when I was small. I have been going since 17 and every weekend we (would be) in Mayaro, liming and having a good time. Mayaro really is a nice destination. A nice place for vacation. The people in Mayaro really are special and have still been so up to today. “They are still a tourist-oriented type of people and they really need the jobs, there is a lot of unemployment there. With the gas station going there now, that is the kickstart to my plan,” said Ramnarine, the owner of Bick’s Auto Parts, a company that revolutionised the used car and car parts industry in the 1990s.
Ramnarine’s new plan, which is currently estimated to cost $500 million is New Mayaro, a mixed-use development, which will offer commercial, residential, cultural and eco-tourism spaces.
“The concept of development is called New Mayaro and the reason for this is that Mayaro currently has some challenges, but also some opportunities. And that’s why we decided because of the fact that we have this 154-acre parcel of land, we can mitigate some of the current challenges in Mayaro and we can generate full-time and temporary jobs. We can bring foreign exchange to the area,” said Ramnarine’s son, Syam Ramnarine, who as CEO of the Bick’s group of companies has taken charge of the push to create this space in the south-eastern Trinidad community.
“When I was a little boy, he would say one day, I’m gonna make this a big development. One day I am going to change the way tourists come to Mayaro. As a little boy, I’d say he’s a little crazy, because he loved his space so much, that I wondered how is this going to happen because Mayaro was so rural at a time. But he wasn’t crazy. He was crazy in love with Mayaro and that love today is coming to fruition,” said the younger Ramnarine.
The initial plans involve the construction of a residential block of homes which are to be rented out AirBnB-style. This would be followed by the creation of a commercial centre where restaurants featuring cuisine from the area and the country will be featured. The Bick’s group also intends to dedicate space to sporting facilities to ensure that there are a multitude of activities available to visitors.
“People will say, but why Mayaro? Why not Barbados or St Lucia? Because Mayaro is more than just beach. Mayaro is culture and that’s what I’m telling you about the bio-luminesence (in the Ortoire River). The people of Mayaro are hospitable, there are manatees in the river, there’s the drive there which is an experience in itself,” said Ramnarine, who drew reference to a lesson he learned from a university classmate who boasted that in a few years the Middle East would become a major tourist destination.
Ramnarine admitted that the notion was laughed off then, but consistent investment has led to Dubai, Abu Dabhi and Doha becoming among the most popular destinations in the world.
“They created a tourism industry that now supersedes the oil industry. So we’re not gonna wait. We’re not gonna wait to diversify the area. We are not gonna wait to create employment. We’re not going to wait to bring more foreign exchange. We do that now. The process has started with the gas station as the first part an integral part of development,” said Syam Ramnarine.
“If the people come together and bring that welcome to the tourists, and Government, we have the roads and infrastructure, and then we bring development. We have a perfect development to now bring employment and tourism to not just Mayaro and Trinidad and Tobago,” said Syam Ramnarine, “This development, we’re going to be working with a consortium of investors to assist them to make this dream a reality and manifest into reality is half a billion-dollar vision.”
The Bick’s group has already discussed the plan with the investment department of Tourism Trinidad Ltd, and the group is hopeful that the completion of the Sangre Grande to Manzanilla Highway and the upgrade of the access road to Mayaro will improve accessibility.
However, Bickram Ramnarine has already hatched a strategy to bring visitors to the space and promote Mayaro as an international tourist destination.
“We will be giving three free trips from Miami to Trinidad, so when you come to Trinidad, we will hire a bus company who will take the job and transport people from the airport to the destination in Mayaro,” said Ramnarine.
“While going to that destination, people don’t just sit down for a long period, they want to stop off and have a good time and go again and don’t feel the trek. What we will do, we will inform all the bars, all the food places, and the restaurants on the way. So at 10 o’clock tomorrow we have a trip coming and be prepared, we will stop off by you, so they will now be ready for this bus and they will have accommodation ready, food everything. We will tell the people, this is what we serve there.”
Following the recent opening of the NP Service Station, the group will now seek to construct the first tranche of houses which will house the visitors.
“So we will test this out; we will do 50 houses first which will start very soon, maybe in a couple months time. And that will kickstart that 50 houses, which like, if you buy a house, you will put it on the market and we will have a company that will rent it out for you. So if you have 50 homes available, we will bring in 50 people on that day,” said Bickram Ramnarine, who expressed confidence that the plan would be greatly beneficial to the community.
“With this development, people will get employment and that will cut crime in Mayaro by three-quarter, it will change the whole game in Mayaro because these bars and restaurants would be activated. They will employ people,” he said.
paid_influencer wrote:Mayaro side nice, but is the crime. I read too many stories of people getting rob and rape while in Mayaro beach house. The robbing part I could maybe deal with but the raping part I cyar handle. i just rather save up a lil more and go Tobago where at least it have some feeling of safety
MaxPower wrote:paid_influencer wrote:Mayaro side nice, but is the crime. I read too many stories of people getting rob and rape while in Mayaro beach house. The robbing part I could maybe deal with but the raping part I cyar handle. i just rather save up a lil more and go Tobago where at least it have some feeling of safety
Syam like he didn’t learn anything when he was kidnapped in Hillview. The crime and trini mentality will lick up, degrade and run down any investment.
st7 wrote:
he didn't learn what exactly? you have experience in being kidnapped, the trauma of it etc that you not letting us know or you just bumping yuh gum again to feel like a big man?
maj. tom wrote:Eventually the country will really need a highway from Golconda to Rio Claro, and then Rio to Mayaro. Rel deep jungle and swampland along there so not an easy task, very expensive, and environmental impacts. Maybe in the year 2254 it could start.
MaxPower wrote:st7 wrote:
he didn't learn what exactly? you have experience in being kidnapped, the trauma of it etc that you not letting us know or you just bumping yuh gum again to feel like a big man?
Little boy, if you were born then and in school that day and understood everything that went on you won’t be carrying on like a panty man. And no one here owes you an explanation for any statement made. Come off the ppl wifi and do your school work na, allyuh fellas letting education pass by too fast without being able to grasp it.
Dohplaydat wrote:I support money launders who give back like this, as opposed to building massive used used towers like Renaissance of Shorelands.
gastly369 wrote:Mayaro has been my go to from since small even work some years down there
But as said the good boy pest them spoiling the zone
Last visit went with friend to throw some line decided mazan bridge mid day....some "good boys" decided to walk up to us from other end of bridge with no good intentions throwin some racial explicit words... Car was closer jumped in and we gone.....
DMan7 wrote:This is quite ironic considering I go anywhere but Bick's when I go to bamboo to buy auto parts...
What's going on with the road from grande to there? Passed a couple weeks ago and supposedly newly built road full of holes.shake d livin wake d dead wrote:Only thing spoiling that plan is that ridiculous road to get there
Rovin wrote:DMan7 wrote:This is quite ironic considering I go anywhere but Bick's when I go to bamboo to buy auto parts...
how come ? ...
Country_Bookie wrote:What's going on with the road from grande to there? Passed a couple weeks ago and supposedly newly built road full of holes.shake d livin wake d dead wrote:Only thing spoiling that plan is that ridiculous road to get there
I used to be a regular on that side before the road became submerged and impassable last year. Given how the new road is a disaster, might be quite next year until I venture on that side again.
Rovin wrote:^^^well is always some background story with alot of big business owners right, if u study dat u eh buy from plenty ppl
article says 154-acre parcel of land
an acre is 8 lots[1 lot=50x100ft] correct ?, so 154x8 = 1232 lots, imo thats a huge chunk of land, like he buy out some old plantation\s
cyar carry none of it with u when u dead so if u have d funding might as well do something useful with it right ...
It's all a matter as to who has the deed to lands.The_Honourable wrote:Is all this bacchanal with the land?
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=870055468062305
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