Chief Minister, Osbourne Fleming, has expressed thanks and appreciation to teachers, administrators, counsellors and other persons in the schools throughout Anguilla for their work in dealing with a surge in violent incidents and other behavioural problems among children.

CM Osbourne Fleming and Hon. Victor Banks

“I believe we need to give praise where praise is due and I want to thank the teachers more so and the parents for ensuring that children walk a straight line,” he added.

The Chief Minister also noted that there had been a significant drop in criminal activities in Anguilla. He thanked the Commissioner of Police and the Royal Anguilla Police Force as well as the citizens of Anguilla for ensuring “that during these turbulent times, Anguilla remains a safe place and that hopefully that this will continue.”

Mr. Fleming’s thank-you list went on as follows: “Lastly, I want to express my thanks to the doctors and staff of the Princess Alexandra Hospital. I had occasion to be there at the weekend and I must say that I was treated very well and I don’t want anybody to think that I was treated [specially] because of my position. I believe that a number of persons enjoy the same kind of treatment and I want to commend the medical and nursing staff for a job well done.”

The Chief Minister spoke again about the Flag project which he said was very dear and close to his heart. “I told you last week and I told you before that there is no project on the drawing board at present,” he said. “I mentioned about the projects that have been delayed. They are still delayed…Things are not going the way we thought they should go and a number of people are experiencing some serious financial problems…I want to assure you that we are working continually to ensure that the Flag project re-starts.”

Mr. Fleming told the reporters that he had some very good news from the owner of the Flag Project in that “things are moving fairly well and that with our cooperation we should see some movement on the project.” The Anguillian leader could not be more specific, but he warned that in order for the project to be re-started there would be a need for “great sacrifice.” He went on: “We need to get the Golf Course project re-started. It is the only viable project in Anguilla so the letter from Mr. Sillerman this morning has brought me quite a bit of hope. There is a lot of work in this direction, but the letter has quite a bit of hope and I want to assure the people that this is the position.”

Meanwhile, he reported that the Viceroy Project was moving ahead quite well, but if the Flag project did not come through as expected it would pose a serious problem to Anguilla.

Mr. Fleming reported that the Government had entered an agreement with Bell [Telephones] Canada to open a Call Centre at the premises of LIME, the telecommunications company that has replaced Cable & Wireless. He was pleased that there were 16 or 17 Anguillians employed there and that within a week or so a similar number of local persons would be hired. “This is very good news for us. We need it badly, especially in these times when we have so many young people looking for employment. We want to take this opportunity to wish Bell Canada well.”

The company is operating out of Nevis and the call centre is intended to serve customers of Bell Canada, providing access for them – not Anguilla or other Caribbean islands.

Minister of Finance, Victor Banks, spoke largely about the Flag Project. He said there was still a need for careful comment as the negotiations were still of a sensitive nature. He repeated a previous statement that the Government had brought in two advisory teams to look at the valuation of the management agreement and the lease ownership agreement as there was a need for Government to be very careful in going forward with the agreements.

He said local advisers were not being used as a lot of the structures for the project had been put together by law firms in the United States and had originally been set up within the American context.

“The Flag Project is not a very simple organisation in terms of its structure. It is very complex,” he continued. “It has homeowners, a number of financing groups that are involved; a number of persons are closely involved in the villa ownership and in the management aspect of the project. Coming forward with the golf course, we have to separate a number of these very complex structures. We want to make sure that we have the expertise available to do it.

“In addition to that, there are some concerns we would have with regards to going forward on the management of the golf course, once it is owned [by Government] to make sure that there are no liabilities still outstanding with the Flag Project which Government, by virtue of taking over the golf course would be responsible for.

Mr. Banks disclosed that all the necessary legal, administrative and other matters should be completed by the end of this month when the Government should take control of the golf course, thus clearing the way for the new developers to continue the main Flag Project.

The golf course carries a price tag of US$48 million dollars. According to Chief Minister, Mr. Fleming, the financiers of the Flag Project, Credit Suisse, have a lean on the development for US$180 million.

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