At a public meeting on the night of Tuesday, 15 July 2014, the Leader of the DOVE Party, Mr. Sutcliffe Hodge, spoke in some detail about a proposal to build a duty-free yacht marina with boutiques and boardwalk in Blowing Point. Mr. Hodge indicated that he conceived the idea for this facility over 20 years ago and discussed it with his good friend Mr. John Rogers, and the late architect Mr. Dan Hunte who died over 15 years ago. Mr. Hodge claimed that he and Mr. Rogers visited the location way back in the early 1990s to visualise how the marina could be sited on the property. Mr. Hodge claimed that he also discussed this idea with many people on the island, including politicians, over the years, but it was not given any attention.
The DOVE Party believes that as it seeks to build a sustainable economy for Anguilla, having a modern multi-purpose marina like the one proposed here would do a lot of good for Anguilla and, in particular, for the Blowing Point village. The plan calls for a marina with a boardwalk and as many as 30 small boutiques – of approximately 500 sq feet in size – spread across the beach at the back of the boardwalk and marina. The boutiques will be leased as stores, restaurants, beauty parlours, massage parlours, ice cream parlours and entertainment centers, etc.
The marina will be owned by the port authority and local private sector investors with a focus on the residents of Blowing Point, ferry owners operating out of Blowing Point and taxi drivers. This way there is pride of ownership. The DOVE Party is already in discussions with Chinese investors out of the United States as regards this project as well as a number of other private and public sector projects for Anguilla.
The DOVE Party believes that a feature of this proposed marina, that is particularly appealing, is the duty-free concept. This duty-free aspect will attract both residents and visitors. It would function much like the duty-free shops at airports after clearing security, except for those visitors to the duty-free area who are not going off island. Those persons not travelling overseas have to go through security and customs to get back out of the duty-free zone at which time customs duties are assessed on any goods purchased in the duty-free zone. For persons leaving Anguilla, no duties are paid. So again the principle remains, customs duties are only paid on goods coming into Anguilla.
Another very good opportunity that the DOVE Party sees is to be able to attract many visitors from neighbouring St. Maarten/St. Martin to spend the day or the evening at the boardwalk, in Anguilla, shopping, dining, etc. without ever entering Anguilla i.e. not having to clear customs or immigration but merely clear a “very secure” security checkpoint. The DOVE Party envisions that this marina/boardwalk/duty-free area will be open 7 days a week, from 7 a.m. to midnight, to all for convenience and maximum commercial activity.
The DOVE Party recognises more detailed thought needs to be put into its plan as it relates to aspects of security, in particular, and fee structures. Over the next few months a drawing will be made available to the general public for comment.
In addition to the proposed marina for Blowing Point, The DOVE Party also proposes a marina for Crocus Bay focused on creating good paying jobs for people in that area, as well as increasing commercial activity. Crocus Bay is ideally suited for a marina as it sits under the highest hill in Anguilla thus making it a sheltered harbour. However, we recognise that some barriers would have to be placed to guard against rough seas coming into the shore.
The DOVE Party recognises that before any of these proposals can be implemented an Environment Impact Assessment would have to be done. However, this type of infrastructural development is critical to Anguilla’s development.
– Contributed
