Prime Minister Godwin Friday says criticisms of his government’s decision to sell 100 acres of land at Chatham Bay, Union Island, saying they do not consider that the land is being sold for conservation, and the government can buy it back at the same price within two years.
A press release issued by the Office of the Prime Minister on Monday said these are “two fundamental aspects of the transaction”.
The press release disclosed that the land has been sold to AHRA LLC, which iWitness News understands is a company registered in St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG).
The press release said that in addition to contributing EC$53 million to the Treasury, the transaction has “placed conservation at the centre of the land’s future use.
“The agreement also provides an additional safeguard for the public interest by giving the Government a two-year option to repurchase the land at the same price at which it was sold.”
The prime minister noted that Opposition Leader Ralph Gonsalves has cited “an alleged historical valuation of Chatham Bay.
“However, by the Opposition Leader’s own account, that valuation was considered in circumstances where the land was under consideration for significant hotel and resort development,” the release stated.
The Prime Minister said: “The Opposition Leader is comparing two fundamentally different propositions. You cannot take a valuation based on the commercial potential of land available for resort development and simply apply it to land whose development potential is now being deliberately restricted for conservation.”
The government said that under the current agreement, the Chatham Bay land is to be held for conservation, with binding covenants that protect the area’s natural environment and biodiversity.
Friday said the difference also reflects two distinct approaches to Chatham Bay’s future.
“I agree that Chatham Bay is an exceptional national asset. However, I do not accept the suggestion that the highest expression of its value must necessarily be another hotel or resort,” Friday said.
He pointed out that Gonsalves had said that his administration had rejected an approach centred on preserving Chatham Bay because it preferred to secure resort development for the area.
Despite that policy preference, the major resort development for Chatham Bay did not materialise during Gonsalves’ 24 years in office.
“A country such as ours needs environmental investment and tourism development, and this Government will continue to pursue both. But responsible development also means recognising that not every beach, forest or environmentally significant piece of land must be intensively developed to have value. Conservation has value, too,” Friday said.
The release said that while agreement such as the one involving the 100 acres of land at Chatham Bay are new to St. Vincent and the Grenadines, they have been used elsewhere for similar purposes.
“In our own Caribbean Community, Belize’s Blue Bond, a landmark 2021 debt-for-nature refinancing deal, reduced the country’s national debt by 12% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and generated millions for marine conservation,” the release said.
It further stated that around the time the transaction was agreed, the Government decided to return to Union Island residents the lands in the southern area that the previous administration had acquired for foreign hotel development.
Friday also placed the transaction within the broader fiscal circumstances inherited by his government, which came to office in November.
“The Opposition Leader cannot discuss the management of national assets today while ignoring the financial condition in which his administration left the country. We inherited public debt at approximately 113% of GDP. That reality places enormous pressure on the Government’s ability to finance healthcare, development programmes, public-sector reform and the other priorities our people expect us to deliver,” Friday said.
He said that proceeds from the transaction will support identified national priorities, including debt reduction, the Ministry of Fisheries, land and sea conservation and climate resilience, and initiatives to improve government efficiency.
Friday said his Government rejects the suggestion that SVG must choose between environmental protection and responsible economic management.
“We are protecting Chatham Bay. We are securing significant value for the Vincentian people,” he said.
“We have retained an important buy-back safeguard, and we are using our national assets responsibly as we confront the substantial debt burden we inherited. That is the responsibility of Government: to know where we should develop, where we should invest and where we should preserve. Chatham Bay is worth protecting, and protecting it does not mean it cannot also deliver value for the people of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.”