Anguilla’s Chief Minister and Minister of Finance, Economic Development, Tourism and Information Technology, Mr. Victor Banks, has commented on a number of matters “dear to his heart” affecting the island – particularly following Hurricane Irma which devastated the territory in September 2017- and on the way forward. He was at the time attending a hospitality event held by the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School at Villa Alegria, where The Anguillian newspaper met and had an informal interview with him.
“As you know, we are trying to get some of the projects up and running, in other words, implemented – those that are being funded by the UK Government. We are at that stage of implementation now which involves some design and procurement issues and in a lot of ways because we are impatient to get things done before the hurricanes we have some concerns.
“But we have been talking with the British Government and officials in the various departments and we are making some progress – and the funding is available. There are a lot of persons who had the view that the funding would not be available, but we are meeting all the requirements. In the early phases it was necessary for us to put a Medium Term Economic Plan in place. We have done that and it has been approved. It only now remains to ensure that we meet some of the basic requirements for resilience that seems to be a buzz word with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. They want to make sure that whatever is constructed has the ability to meet with weather events like what occurred in 2017, or at least something close to that magnitude. There are persons who want to ensure that their money is spent wisely and that we will not do any makeshift arrangements and, most importantly, that we complete the projects.”
Mr. Banks went on: “I said very early that no matter how much funding you get, it is never enough; and we are finding out that despite the funding we have, the preliminary estimates show that a number of the projects may not happen this in tranche of funds. So we are putting together a priority list which ensures that a number of projects are taken care of completely.
“Among the most important projects for me is the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School to make sure that we do not end up, a couple years from now, with [a continuing] shift system. Another important project is the Blowing Point ferry facility. It is important for us to have people visiting Anguilla through that gateway because that is the brunt of the tourism industry – in a friendly guest experience befitting the kind of luxury product that we sell.
“Of course, a number of schools are also on that list and they will be done. But there are a number of things we will need to scale back a bit to make sure that the funding suffices; and we are at the same time seeking additional funding if that is possible. I am talking about the sixty million pounds – two hundred and twenty million dollars. We need to make sure that we can access all of that but it will not be sufficient to meet all the projects. The six that have been approved only require something in the region of ten million pounds. I am talking about the brunt of the projects which includes the high school and so forth. The designs for the projects are not completed and we need to get them done.”
Asked to comment on the redesigning work at the Blowing Point Port, the Chief Minister stated: “We want to make sure that the stakeholders in the industry – the hoteliers, immigration and customs, taxi-association and others – are involved in whatever solution we put in place. Considering the fact that it is going to take maybe ten months, to one year, to really complete a terminal in Blowing Point, we need to have a temporary facility. We want to make sure that such a temporary facility certainly offers the kind of visitor experience that recognises the fact that we had a hurricane, and had damage, but that we are also able to provide a reasonable response to issues that guests encounter when they come to a destination.”
Prompted as to whether there would be a suitable tent, or if the Big Jim building near the port would be an alternative, the Chief Minister replied:
“I hate to use the word ‘tent’. It is a facility that is much more manageable. This matter of a tent, a building and all kinds of things, tend to lose the issue that are trying to address. The issue we are trying to address is to get the best guest experience and whatever that takes, in the short term, we will make provision for that within the budget for the rebuilding of the Blowing Point Port.
“That temporary solution is part of the cost – whether it is a much more permanent structure or a mobile structure that is not a tent – but something that is much more durable in the short term. You can’t build a building where you actually want to put a permanent facility; so the master plan is going to include the location of the permanent facility -and the temporary facility must not get in the way of the construction of that permanent facility. As a consequence, there are some benefits to the Big Jim solution so we need to examine it.”
