Vice-President Danny Faure said this on Thursday when he witnessed the signing of an agreement for a $10 million loan between the island’s developers and the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank – PTA Bank.

Mr Faure gave the media statistics showing the development has brought in $112 million as foreign direct investment (FDI), given 450 Seychellois permanent jobs and boosted growth by 2.35% of the gross domestic product (GDP) between 2005 and 2009 during which time 320 housing units were built and sold.

The Eden Island Company now plans to build another 240 units, which its chief executive Craig Heeger and Mr Faure said will earn the government $54 million, offer an extra 600 jobs, bring in $147 million as FDI and boost the economy by 2% of GDP between now and 2013.

“The land we are standing on now was reclaimed by the government at a cost of $7million but we have already recovered our cost by receiving $39 million into government coffers from various payments,” said Mr Faure.

“It’s important to see how the investment now benefits Seychelles.”

He said a thriving marine charter on the island is operated mainly by Seychellois, and such businesses would not have been there had land not been reclaimed.

Mr Heeger signed for the loan with the president of the PTA Bank, Dr Michael Gondwe. He said his company got another $10 million loan from Nouvobanq to build the 240 units and has finished paying back a loan it got from Barclays Bank for the completed 320 houses, all of which have been sold.

Mr Heeger said he approached the PTA Bank three months ago during its officials’ annual meeting here.

Dr Gondwe said the agreement showed the bank can “structure complex deals within the shortest time possible”.

“I am happy to be back here just four months later to sign a deal that only started taking shape after we were taken around this magnificent island complex by Mr Heeger and his team, leaving us quite impressed with what we saw,” he said.

“Where many others may have seen this place and dismissed it as just an extension of the ocean, the promoters of this project had the vision and the courage to walk a path where nobody else had ventured, and the result is what we see in front of us today.”

He said the deal marks an important step for the bank in consolidating its presence here.

“As you may be aware, we have provided facilities to a couple of other firms in this country, among them the Seychelles Petroleum Company, which has received cumulative financing of about $100 million from us. We trust that our intervention in this sector has played a crucial role in stabilising petroleum stocks in this country,” he said.

Dr Gondwe noted that the bank is part of a syndicate that financed the Ephelia Resort at Port Launay and is involved in two other ongoing hotel projects.

“We hope to further increase our presence here, and I will take this opportunity to ask the local business community to talk to us as your preferred financing partner – you will not be disappointed.”