2:00 PM Miami – Baha Mar Resort chairman and China based Export Import Bank and China State Engineering Construction Corp signed the loan agreement to develop the 1,000 acre project located on Cable Beach, Bahamas.

Baha Mar Resort may have a new life if the deal signed between its chairman and Chinese lenders is followed through.

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Sarkis Izmirlian of Baha Mar and Vice President of the Export Import Bank of China Li Jun signed an agreement today in Miami.

The project loan agreement still needs the Bahamas government approval which is widely accepted as early as May. No terms of the deal were disclosed.

The deal purportedly arranges the financing for $2.5 billion project that will be developed over 1,000 acres in Cable Beach and is estimate to create as many as 8,800 jobs in the Bahamas.

China State Engineering Construction Corporation will do much of the building and development on the beach that may see improved telecom and cable network and new road building. The company was also part of the signing ceremony today.

CSECC will also take minority stake in the resort.

The project was first conceived in January 2007 and Harrah’s Entertainment took minority stake and took responsibility to arrange most of the financing for the project.

The deal collapsed after Harrah’s was acquire a year later in a private buyout and credit markets froze after the collapse of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers in 2008.

The latest revival in the deal comes after intense lobbying by the chief executive Izmilian for financing in Hong Kong and Shanghai and the global market recovery.

China has been building its presence in the Caribbean region and now has at least one active project in eighteen islands in the region.

The new agreement calls for the completion of the project by the end of 2013 and build 3,000 rooms and 100,000 square foot casino, 200,000 meeting space and 35,000 of retail mall.

The resort expects to generate additional $740 million in the economy, nearly 10% increase to the current GDP of the Bahamas.

Nearby on the beach, Atlantis manages 3,300 rooms and operates casino of 50,000 square foot size.