Confluence project will produce ‘better people,’ proponent says

Confluence project will produce ‘better people,’ proponent says

Navajo Times | Donovan Quintero
Former Bodaway-Gap Chapter President Perry Slim, Jr., looks down to where the Little Colorado River and Colorado River join on Sunday afternoon.

By Krista Allen and Donovan Quintero
Navajo Times

BIDÁÁ HA’AZT’I’

Standing near the spot where the proposed Escalade tramway would carry tourists down to the confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado rivers, R. Lamar Whitmer said people will feel inspired after hearing the stories of the Diné and they will be better people.

“They (stories) are all inspiring to me,” said Whitmer, 60, the driving force behind the Grand Canyon Escalade project and a political consultant who, along with a group of Diné politicians, believes that it would bring much needed revenue to the Navajo Nation. “It’s the culture that really excites me.”

Whitmer often ponders how one can make the world a better place, enrich the Diné people, and help people who need help.

Navajo Times | Donovan Quintero
Anti-Grand Canyon Escalade protestors hold a sign that reads “Protect Grand Canyon: Stop Grand Canyon Escalade” Sunday afternoon.

“Not just Navajos, but other people who will come here,” said Whitmer. “They’ll be inspired, they’ll hear the stories, and they’ll be better people.”

Escalade developers are hoping to build a tramway here to carry up to 10,000 tourists a day to a riverside retail and food complex – but only if the Navajo Nation Council approves the proposal and President Russell Begaye signs off on it.

The Law and Order Committee in October unanimously opposed a bill for the project, which requires the Nation to pay $65 million for off-site infrastructure costs (this amounts to more than one-third of the project’s total cost). Last Thursday, the Naabik’íyáti’ Committee voted 14-2 against the proposal.

Delegates Leonard Tsosie and Benjamin Bennett, the bill’s sponsor, were the only two who voted in favor of the proposal.

“It’s about sharing,” explained Whitmer. “It stopped being about the money a long time ago. This is about a commitment we made to the local people. When they stop, we’ll stop.”

The Escalade project is a plan to develop tourist attractions on the eastern edge of the Grand Canyon. The plan proposes an aerial tram just outside the boundaries of the national park.

It also calls for onsite infrastructure – hotels, general store, Navajo cultural center, restaurant, RV park – and places for Diné artisans to sell their goods.

At most the Nation can receive only 18 percent of gross revenues, according to the master agreement. The portion of the gross revenues is predicated on the Nation’s spending of $65 million for offsite infrastructure – an all-weather road, power, water, and communications – on the project.

The agreement suggests that if paid customer admissions are less than 800,000, the Nation will receive 8 percent of gross revenues. So if each visitor spends $100 that would equal to $6.4 million minus 2 percent, or $5,000, for the Navajo Nation Hospitality Enterprise. The Confluence Partners LLC however would receive 92 percent, which equals to $164 million.

The Confluence Partners would be required to secure at least $120 million for onsite infrastructure cost. And the enterprise would have the responsibility to construct the offsite infrastructure in accordance with the requirements of the master agreement.

“Our investment is $165 million, is what we estimated in this point in time,” Whitmer said. “We’ll probably go up from that. But when the (project) is built out totally, with the hotels and everything, we’re looking at $1 billion of investment out here. The (proposed) Lodge Hotel over here is going to be a $500-million hotel.”

Whitmer says much time and nearly $5 million have already been invested in this project.


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