NASSAU — Four companies in the Bahamas have signed $15 million worth of preliminary contracts to help build a stalled mega resort financed largely by China.

The contracts are expected to create 450 new jobs, though they are still subject to government approval.


In all, developer Baha Mar Resorts Ltd. expects to award $60 million in work to local businesses.

Baha Mar senior vice president Robert Sands said that groundbreaking should begin in January.

A Chinese bank arranged a $2.5 billion financing package earlier this year and Beijing greenlighted the project in July.

Nearly 8,000 Chinese workers are expected to arrive late next year.

The project was announced in 2008 but stalled by the global economic crisis.