Fellow Anguillians
In June 2017 the sale of Cap Juluca hotel by the Linda and Charles Hickox to Belmond Inc was concluded.
Under the MoU with the Government of Anguilla, Belmond Inc. is to renovate and expand Belmond Cap Juluca and operate the eventual upgraded facility as a 5 star accommodation. When completed Belmond Cap Juluca will comprise 113 hotel rooms and suites.
The project involves the Construction of 5 new villas, two with 6 rooms each, one with 8 rooms and two with two rooms. Additionally, there will be a new spa, a ball room, a new pool at the arrivals building and a beach BBq and bar. The new construction also includes a new staff building and cafeteria. All the existing villas, the arrivals building, Pimms Restaurant will be upgraded, as well as the landscaping, access roads and parking areas.
Under the MoU Belmond is to maintain all existing beach access and parking for use by the public. Belmond continues to express the view that the upgraded and expanded facility will be one the people of Anguilla will be proud of and wish to see the facilities used by visitors and locals alike.
Fellow Anguillians, yesterday my colleagues and I visited the project and I can report we were impressed by the progress to date and overly pleased to learn and see the number of Locals employed at the project. On the construction side there are around 150 workers employed in management and construction on site, with over 95% being locals. Belmond Cap Juluca itself has another 17 of their hotels workers employed at this time
Fellow Anguillians, Construction is well on the way with construction activity taking place in every existing villa, on the new villas and the Ballroom/events building. The Area from west of the main building where two new 6 rooms villas are being construction to new construction to the south of the existing Pimms restaurant is the most congested activity area of the project. So congested is the area that it has been deemed to pose a serious risk to the health and safety of those wishing to use the beach from public access provided. Operating in this area, in addition to the workers are heavy equipment and trucks as well as a number of other small construction vehicles.
The Government of Anguilla, like all other Anguillians and residents of Anguilla considers access to our islands beaches as an ABSOLUTE MUST. As a consequence we continue to insist that every developer must make provision that the users of our beaches are not restricted in any way.
However, as Minister of Health and Physical Planning and Lands, it is incumbent of me in this instance to take into account the safety of residents and visitors to the Maundays Beach as a most important consideration at this time. Given the very real possibility of persons getting injured or even killed during this phase of the development we must responsibly take every precaution to ensure this does not occur.
To ensure this, we have taken the decision to temporarily close the access to Maundy’s Bay from the usual route. I repeat temporarily — until the construction work on the present access route is completed. We anticipate that this temporary closure could extend to the beginning of the next tourism season in November. We are therefore asking that persons wishing to enjoy the beach use the access via the Firefly Lane, which is located west of Picante Restaurant in West End. This access will be prepared to ensure easy and safe passage and adequate parking will be provided at the entrance of the beach in that area. You will then have the opportunity, with appropriate care and caution, to use the entire beach safely. You should bear in mind that there will be occasions when heavy equipment may be negotiating parts of the beach. We have asked the project team to put proper measures in place to manage such activities.
Fellow Anguillians, as a Government we know the sensitivity surrounding beach access and call upon the general public to understand this temporary action. We had to take in the best interest of the health and safety of all users of the beach. The closure of the access will be at the entrance of Belmond Cap Juluca, but person wishing to access Cove beach will be allowed to do so on foot and persons who normally fish on the rocks past Pimms will also be allowed to access the area on foot via Cove Beach using the road across the bridge on foot. We have requested that the security at Cap Juluca manage this process to ensure safe passage.
Fellow Anguillian you can be assured when the hotel reopens on November 1 2018, all public access and parking will be as usual but greatly upgraded as the rest of the project.
I thank you for your patience and understanding with the temporary closure, and may god bless you and God Bless Anguilla
Thank you for listening.
