It is now a year since the Government of Anguilla has been trying feverishly to resurrect the failed Flag/Temenos Golf Course and Residency Project and in that period the people of the island, hundreds of local and foreign workers, and the Government itself, have suffered greatly from the closure of the property.

I heard about a number of efforts by the Government to get the project re-started as well as some interest expressed by other developers including hoteliers with properties on the island and the local Golf Association to help save or carry forward the project. There may have been some suggestions by other interest groups and individuals about what to do about this project which was supposed to have landed Anguilla in a very comfortable economic, financial and employment position among its Caribbean neighbors.

It is the first time however that I heard about the suggestion of compulsory acquisition by Mr. Astaphan, a locally-registered and practicing lawyer, whose letter to the Anguilla Government was published in the July 31st edition of The Anguillian. I fully understand the difficulties which are inherent in compulsory acquisition. Such an action does not usually sit well with investors as Mr. Astaphan alluded to, and many times there is the question about where the money would come from to pay off the owners of the development. Notwithstanding these factors, I am in agreement with Mr. Astaphan given the circumstances, uncertainty and the impact of the failure of the project on the welfare and lives of the Anguillian people and the economy.

A white elephant, as the project has now become, creates a very negative and embarrassing situation in Anguilla, especially when a very large portion of the land is Crown property. For this reason alone I think that compulsory acquisition is in order if the payoff money can be found and I think that Mr. Astaphan made a good case of how such a take-over can be financed. Add this land ownership of the Crown to the fact that the integrity and name of Anguilla need to be preserved; that the welfare of Anguillians, the economy and the tourist industry need to be protected, I believe that all of this should bolster any case for compulsory acquisition.

A problem I have is how come the public did not hear about Mr. Astaphan’s suggestion which, to my mind, does represent a sensible way forward? The Government should have released the letter in question which only could have strengthened its desire to see the project re-started. I have lived in several Caribbean islands before my sojourn of 16 months in Anguilla and have seen a number of failing projects taken over by Governments in the region. Given the similar circumstances I don’t see any reason why this could not have been done in Anguilla. The compulsory acquisition of the Flag/Temenos project was, and still is, a very workable course of action or option and Mr. Astaphanm has quoted a number of case studies showing that this can be done. It was a source of worry to me to have found, on my recent visit to the island that, as I had heard, the immense project which looks so good from the air, as I flew in, has been closed down. I had been eyeing that project for a job there but, alas, like so many other people, my hopes have been dashed to the ground.

My understanding is that the Government has been seeking to purchase the Golf Course facility from the developer and that the cost involved was 48 million US dollars. By all accounts this seemed to have gone down well with the developer and I wonder why consideration was no given to be purchasing the whole project? Certainly wherever the 48 million was coming from, couldn’t the rest be found as well?

Anguilla is the poorer without that project being in operation. What a great pity!

Everson Browne
(Visiting from Tampa and writing on behalf of the people of Anguilla I have come to love and admire).

| Printer-friendly page | Send this article to a friend |

World News