DILI, 07 May 2026 (TATOLI) — Pelican Paradise has yet to vacate its resort project site in Tasi-Tolu and Tibar despite the government order, requiring the company to clear the area within 10 days.
Pelican Paradise said it had not vacated the site because it still holds legal rights to the land under a long-term lease agreement that remains valid.
Company director Samuel Ong said Pelican Paradise continues to urge the government to fulfil its prerequisite obligations under the Special Investment Agreement (SIA) signed in 2022.
“Pelican Paradise will remain its course. Waiting for the government to meet its pre-condition obligations under the SIA signed in 2022,” Samuel Ong told Tatoli, on Thursday.
Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão on April 16 said that the government has ordered the company to vacate the site so the land could be handed over to another investor as part of preparations for the 2029 ASEAN Summit.
Gusmão said that the government has fulfilled its obligations, including providing electricity and water, to the Project Site.
“The state fulfilled all the developer’s requests, including providing electricity and water. However, additional financial demands were later introduced, including requirements for further bank guarantees, which we consider inappropriate for an investor of this scale,” he said.
In response to the government order, Pelican Paradise said an independent inspection of the Tasi-Tolu and Tibar project found that electricity and water infrastructure at the site remained insufficient to support large-scale construction.
The company said that although a basic three-phase power connection had been installed, the current supply could only support lighting and was unable to meet the project’s minimum requirement of 0.9 to 1 megawatt for construction.
The company also said no water source exists within the site, noting that the only identified borehole, located 2.1 kilometres away, is damaged and lacks pump and pipeline connections, leaving the project unable to meet its daily water needs of 250 to 300 cubic metres.
Pelican Paradise said it holds executed 99-year Land Lease Agreements over 22 plots within the Project Site. These leases were granted by the State and remain legally in force.
The developer stressed that its legal rights over the project site remain intact. “We were ready to build. We were never given the ground to build on,” said in a statement.
The statement added that Pelican Paradise has been present in Timor-Leste for seventeen years, with a genuine commitment to the country’s development and that has not changed.
“We want to build. We remain open to structured engagement through the proper process,” the statement concluded.
Journalist: Cidalia Fátima
Editor: Julia Chatarina
Translation: Camilio de Sousa
