THE Trump organisation is "strongly refuting " claims that the investment and jobs created at Donald Trump's controversial golf resort in Aberdeenshire fall far short of what was promised.
The BBC's Panorama programme claimed Donald Trump has spent just £25 million on his golf development north of Aberdeen despite having hailed it as a £1 billion project, while delivering only 200 jobs out of the 6000 new posts predicted
The programme, broadcast last night, came five years after the Scottish Government approved plans for the Menie Estate. It also claimed that since the estate was bought by the US tycoon for £7m, the value of the land has risen to an estimated £100m, in part due to planning consents granted for the building of 500 new homes on part of it.
But Trump International said the Companies House report the programme had been using did not reflect the full spectrum of costs. A statement said: "From pre-incorporation expenditure to the additional capital investment made since the published accounts of two years ago, Trump's investment to date is significantly more than stated and is in excess of $100m (£67m)."
In addition, the claims on jobs created to date did not take into account the many hundreds of consultants, contractors and workers engaged in the project since its inception, it said.
The company continued it was always viewed as a long term investment, and whilst the intention was to continue investing and creating more job opportunities, this was contingent upon the European Offshore Wind Farm, which is near the estate, not going forward.
"This is the Scottish Government's fault – no international developer would invest hundreds of millions of pounds to build a luxury hotel and resort overlooking an industrial wind turbine facility," the Trump statement said.
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