Introduced were main speakers Groupe Jutras President Mario Di Palma, the group’s legal advisor Ricardo Hrtschan, and partners Idea Design Company President Hugh Darley, engineering company SNC-Lavalin President Youssef Sabeh, and Flair Management and Image Consulting Group President Mario Lefebvre, representing Cirque du Soleil Entertainment.

Groupe Jutras and its president Mario Di Palma had first given a presentation to a group of 150 invitees that included elected officials, representatives of the Economic, Social, and Cultural Council (CESC), the new Chamber of Commerce (CCI), community councils and professional associations, and former Mayor Albert Fleming, in Hotel Le Flamboyant on Thursday evening.

It appeared only certain media had been invited to this presentation.

Ricardo Hrtschan noted most of the Territorial Councillors had attended the evening presentation, but President Frantz Gumbs "had not shown up."

"We are here this week to present this project to the Council. We are not here to engage in politics," he said. "Up to now we have not received any cooperation from the Collectivité or the President. We are just investors presenting a project that we have worked hard on all year. This is a project that is on the table now for the people of St. Martin, but we are not going to wait indefinitely."

The group indicated it was prepared to make a direct investment of a billion euros over 10 years in the Bay of Marigot, which would include development of a commercial port, naval dockyard, maritime institute, waterfront, import/export hub, institute of culinary arts, hotels, and private and commercial enterprises.

"It’s a concept based on events and a hotel sector that will re-establish St. Martin as a premier destination in the Caribbean," Di Palma said.

The group will contribute financially to a foundation for training St. Martiners for the many new jobs that will be created, he added. Construction phases for the Bay of Marigot project will create 1,000 jobs per year over 10 years.

Di Palma also said his group was ready now to make an initial disbursement of 49 million euros for construction of a deep water commercial port in Galisbay.

"We can begin tomorrow with the capital we have without asking for a cent from the Collectivité," said Di Palma. "We are very advanced on this, but are waiting for an answer from the Collectivité."

Recapping on his company’s vision plan for Marigot, Hugh Darley explained that not quantity but quality of numbers was needed for Marigot.

"You want less people, but higher per capita spending. The concept is that we re-build Marigot to how it used to be as a higher quality destination with high quality visitors and high quality brands."

Asked how local traditions, markets and cultural activities would be retained amidst a development of high-end hotels, boutiques, conference centres, etc., Darley replied: "Commerce is generated by people who move from place to place. In our plan we are going to build anchors and those anchors will allow people to walk from place to place.

"Lolos and craft vendors need to be where there is high foot traffic. Right now they are all together in one place and there is no traffic. But we will also have public meetings to discuss what the local needs are and how they can fit into the plan. And that’s where the cooperation of the Collectivité comes in."

Darley added that the creation of extra land that would be needed for the waterfront development would enhance Marigot’s value because a professionally developed and designed landmass would protect the town, which could then build on that asset.

Among the plans, Lefebvre outlined a proposal to have world-famous Cirque du Soleil as an entertainment draw for the waterfront. Since 1984 100 million people have seen the Cirque shows, of which 21 were presented in 2010. He said it had not been decided whether this would be a permanent fixture or a visiting show, but the Cirque organisation was branching out worldwide to new locations.