The $27 million two-star Manta Lodge Hotel and Dive Centre in Speyside is expected to be opened in April.

Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Chief Secretary Farley Augustine announced this at a political meeting in his hometown of Speyside on March 17.

In February 2023, the keys for the newly renovated hotel and dive centre were handed over to the THA, and it was announced that tenders for managing it would soon be put out.

Augustine said interviews are currently under way.

"I know persons are doing interviews and I expect the young people and the not-so-young from Speyside and Charlotteville and Delaford to be working there by majority."

This, he said, was because "this government is only interested in investing in you, the people of Tobago. That is what this party is about, this is what this is about. We are interested in people.”

He said the opening is expected to increase the island’s room stock.

In 2015, the assembly spent $32 million on Sanctuary Villas at Black Rock and Manta Lodge. Both properties were left unattended, sparking questions about the THA spending going down the drain.

Then chief secretary Ancil Dennis said renovations to both properties would cost $70 million – $10 million for Manta Lodge and $60 million for Sanctuary Villas. Manta Lodge was given priority, as it was the smaller project.

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