There have been two recent developments as plans move ahead for the construction of the Road Bay Project which will be a new and third jetty, and other related facilities, at Sandy Ground.
One of the developments is found in the Minutes of the Executive Council Meeting dated March 21, 2019 – and published on April 2. The Council’s EX MEM 19/76 relates to the acquisition of property in Registration Section Road, Block 08412 B, Parcel 172, comprising 0.80 of an acre and developed with Pelican Villa at Sandy Ground. The land there is part of the space required for the new facilities to further make Road Bay Anguilla’s main port of entry for cargo boats and other vessels.
The Executive Council noted that the above property was being purchased by the Anguilla Social Security Board through its subsidiary, the Anguilla Social Security Investment and Development Corporation (ASSIDCO), at a price of US$630,000, on behalf of the Government of Anguilla for the Road Bay Development Project. The sellers are Mr. William J. McLaughlin and Mrs. Helen McLaughlin.
The Executive Council stressed that there should be “the exercise of best efforts and necessary due diligence by the various officials of the Government of Anguilla, the Anguilla Social Security Board/the Anguilla Social Security Investment and Development Corporation and the Anguilla Air and Sea Ports Authority, to achieve the closing of the sale and purchase transaction.” This is “to be followed shortly by the transfer and exchange of land with the Government of Anguilla/Crown in an efficient and timely manner as possible, cognizant of the target timeline for the implementation of the Road Bay Development Project.”
The Council “encouraged the officials to work towards a tripartite agreement and agreed that the Attorney General’s Chambers should be involved in the agreement and process.”
The second recent development in the plans for the Road Bay Port Project is the recent announcement by the Manager of the UK-funded Anguilla Programme, Mr. Darren Forbes-Batey, MBE, that, under a different arrangement, the UK Government had agreed to a further 6.5 million pounds for the re-start of the project in 2019/20. He said his office was “working in cooperation with the consultants, DLN (based in Barbados), the Anguilla Air and Sea Ports Authority and the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications, Utilities and Housing (MICUH) to deliver the much-needed new port facilities at Anguilla’s one and only goods/freight port.”
As intimated above, the UK Government had already approved some 6.8 million pounds for the project. The total approved amount for the project is in excess of 13 million pounds.
The UK Government earlier assisted in providing significant funding for the repair and improvement of the current Road Bay jetty, which had badly deteriorated since it was originally constructed by Royal Engineers in 1971. The urgent repair work had stopped the closure of the jetty, thus giving it many more years to continue in operation.
Meanwhile, there is a long-term objective to build a deep water harbor, at Corito, on the southern coast of Anguilla. Little is being heard, however, about that proposed development – suggesting that it might be sometime in the distant future.
