Krukziener in Fiji venture

Auckland property developer Andrew Krukziener is marketing a five-star tourist resort project in Fiji.

Krukziener Properties is taking phone and email inquiries from those wanting to invest in Sovi Bay Resort, where 41 lifestyle beach houses and 20 beachfront hotel bures are planned.

The resort is proposed for a large freehold site between a lagoon and rainforest, on the coast at Viti Levu, about an hour from Nadi Airport.

A website promoting the scheme says the beach houses will be built on "generously proportioned" separate sections of between 900sq m and 1500sq m. Local craftsmen will create the high thatched-roof buildings which will be fully air-conditioned.

Investors who buy the beach houses can lease them back to a hotel operator.

An animated 3D web display site says only about 8 per cent of Fijian land is freehold and the Sovi Bay land is on a freehold plot.

Companies Office records showed Sovi Bay was a New Zealand-registered company whose directors are Krukziener, solicitor Kerry Knight, of Knight Coldicutt, and Auckland property investor Chong Du Cheng.

The company was registered in 2001 and Krukziener owns all its shares.

A hotel industry spokesman said several New Zealanders were planning resorts in Fiji.

Knight said he knew nothing about the Fijian development.

Krukziener failed to return phone calls.