Failed Tahitian Village project set to be revived

The French Polynesian government plans to relaunch the Tahitian Village project later this month after years of setbacks and downgrades.

In the latest timetable, expressions of interest to build a set of hotels will be accepted until August after which a jury will select the successful bidders.

In 2014, the site in Punaauia was earmarked for a $US3 billion tourism development, to be known as Mahana Beach.

It was meant to double visitor numbers following a decade of decline and then stagnation, but the initial project was abandoned over funding problems.

A scaled down successor project on the same site, named Tahitian Village, failed three years ago when a New Zealand consortium Kaitiaki Tagaloa missed three deadlines to finalise contracts worth $US700 million to build accommodation.