MMC Development Ltd. has rebuilt 2,500 Dominican homes and is midway through the most ambitious infrastructure project in Eastern Caribbean history — so why is it suing the government that hired it?

In an exclusive interview with Caribbean News Global, Cal Murad, Project Director of MMC Development Ltd. (MMCD), discussed what should have been a triumphant story: a UAE-based contractor that has spent years rebuilding hurricane-ravaged Dominica, delivering over 2,500 climate-resilient homes across a dozen communities, and now spearheading what Murad himself calls “one of the most significant infrastructure projects in the Eastern Caribbean” — Dominica’s first international airport. Instead, the interview revealed something far more troubling: MMCD has filed formal arbitration proceedings against the Government of Dominica.

The question Dominicans are left asking is simple. If this company has done so much for this country, and by any visible measure, it has — what went so badly wrong that its executives are now in a legal dispute with the government that hired them?

A BUILDER’S RECORD

MMC Development Ltd’s record in Dominica is substantial and largely uncontested. Beginning with the Bellevue Chopin housing development, built to rehouse survivors of Petite Savanne after Tropical Storm Erika. The company has also delivered housing projects across Castle Bruce, La Plaine, Delices, Grand Fond, San Sauveur, Cotton Hill, Georgetown, Grand Bay, Jimmit, Stockfarm, Upper Riverbank, Joe Burton, Scotts Head, and Eggleston. Further developments in Grand Bay Ville, Woodford Hill, Pointe Michel, Penville, Vieille Case, Paix Bouche, Canefield, and Trafalgar are ongoing, with full handover expected by mid-2026.

The work extends beyond housing. MMCD has delivered healthcare facilities, schools, community centres, roads, and drainage infrastructure. In the interview, Murad framed it with conviction: “More than 2,500 families no longer have to fear the next storm from inside a damaged structure. That is not a statistic — that is the entire reason we are here.”

These are not the words — or the track record — of a company looking for a quick exit. Which makes what comes next all the more difficult to explain.

THE AIRPORT: A PROJECT OF STAGGERING AMBITION — AND STAGGERING COMPLEXITY

Dominica has never had an international airport. Douglas-Charles, the existing facility, can accommodate only small regional aircraft. For decades, a full international runway has been discussed, shelved, and discussed again — defeated each time by geography and the enormous capital required.

MMCD is now attempting to make it happen. Murad describes the engineering challenge in terms that make it clear this is no ordinary project. “This is among the most technically demanding construction projects anywhere in the Caribbean, possibly in the region’s modern history,” he told Caribbean News Global. “Dominica is a mountainous island with extremely limited flat land. An airport requires precisely level, stable ground over a substantial footprint. That means enormous earthworks — cutting into hillsides, filling valleys, and engineering drainage systems capable of handling the tropical rainfall Dominica receives.”

Seismic complexity, remote logistics, and the sheer scale of earthworks required make the project genuinely extraordinary. If completed, it would open Dominica to direct international tourism at a scale the island has never experienced. Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has staked considerable political capital on it.

So why, at this pivotal moment, is the developer suing the client?

“COMPLIANCE WITH PROJECT CONDITIONS NOT FULFILLED” — WHAT DOES THAT ACTUALLY MEAN?

When asked about challenges facing the airport project, Murad did not deflect. “MMC Development Ltd. has initiated formal arbitration proceedings against the Government of Dominica,” he stated. “This is not a decision we made lightly — arbitration is the last resort, and our arrival here reflects the seriousness of the issues at hand.”

The dispute, he said, “centers on compliance with project conditions that have not been fulfilled in accordance with our agreement.” MMCD has committed, in Murad’s words, “enormous resources to this project — financial resources, personnel, and the opportunity cost, as we solely focused on this significant project.” The company expects, he added, “a reciprocal adherence by the government. When those commitments are not honoured, a developer has both the legal right and the professional obligation to seek a remedy through the proper channels.”

“Compliance with project conditions not fulfilled” is careful, lawyerly language. It could mean delayed payments. It could mean disputed variation orders. It could mean a government that agreed to provide something like land access, regulatory clearances, funding tranches, and did not follow through. In large-scale infrastructure contracts between private developers and governments, underpayment or irregular payment is among the most common triggers for formal dispute. But it could mean something else entirely. No one is saying.

COULD THE AIRPORT ACTUALLY STOP? THE ANSWER IS YES — AND THE STAKES ARE ENORMOUS

Murad was asked directly whether the arbitration could result in the suspension of construction. His answer was measured but clear: “That is the gravest possible outcome, and it is emphatically not the outcome we desire.”

He added that he hopes for an amicable resolution. But hope is not a contractual remedy. If MMCD were to withdraw from the airport project, whether due to failed arbitration or an inability to reach a settlement, the consequences would be severe and potentially irreversible in the near term.

Partially completed earthworks on a mountainous Caribbean island do not remain stable indefinitely. Restarting with a new contractor, assuming one could be found, would take years and cost multiples of what finishing now would require.

The political implications for Prime Minister Skerrit, who has positioned the airport as a centerpiece of his development legacy, would be equally serious. An unfinished airport and a public arbitration against the government would be an extraordinary reversal for an administration that has defined itself through infrastructure delivery.

A PATTERN WORTH WATCHING: WHEN GOVERNMENTS AND BUILDERS FALL OUT OVER BIG PROJECTS

MMCD is not the first developer to find itself in dispute with a government over a large infrastructure project, and it will not be the last. The power dynamics of such relationships are complex.

In Dominica’s case, the political incentive structure is particularly sharp. The ruling Dominica Labour Party has been in office continuously since 2000. Infrastructure delivery, particularly post-hurricane reconstruction, has been central to its political identity. An airport stalling mid-construction would be an extraordinary reversal.

MMCD, for its part, has demonstrated a genuine commitment to Dominica over many years. The housing programme alone represents a sustained investment in capacity and resources that goes beyond what a purely opportunistic developer would undertake.

That makes the arbitration all the more striking. Companies that want to keep working in a country do not sue their government casually. When they do, something has gone seriously wrong — and the public deserves to know what it is.

SOMEWHERE ON A HILLSIDE, THE EARTHMOVERS ARE STILL TURNING

As of this writing, MMCD says construction continues. The machines have not stopped. The company has not walked off the site. Murad’s tone throughout the interview was one of frustration, the frustration of a developer who wants to finish what he has started, not of a company preparing to abandon ship.

But the arbitration clock is now running. Proceedings, once initiated, tend to take on a momentum of their own. They are expensive, adversar...

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