In recent days, there has been a flurry of comments back and forth on the Internet, Facebook and the radio – some for, and others against, the planned removal of some tamarind trees, in particular, to facilitate road development.
On the table is the coming fulfilment of a long-standing plan, during the administrative periods of consecutive Governments of Anguilla. It is the re-development of the Carter Rey Boulevard, called The Valley Main Road. It stretches from the Roundabout, just outside the Ronald Webster Park, to the Roundabout west of the Clayton J. Lloyd International Airport and at the junction of the Edwin Wallace Rey Drive, going west into George Hill.
It was generally thought that The Valley Main Road was really from the late Albert Lake’s premises straight down to the Crocus Bay junction in the vicinity of the old Cottage Hospital.
It has not been stated whether there are any plans to redevelop that area of road which is partly flooded during the slightest rainfall. The south side of this section of road is lined by century-old mahogany trees and a tamarind tree – all of which are annually lighted up for the Christmas season. If this part of the road were ever to be widely redeveloped, it is believed that all those trees would have to be removed. But that is another matter for discussion.
The road to be redeveloped is called the Carter Rey Boulevard, but is also referred to as The Valley Main Road! It is a relatively short road and there are reported plans for sidewalks with telecommunication facilities, a central roundabout and lanes. In the vicinity of this road, are the Pro-Cathedral of St. Mary; Flow; Digicel; the National Commercial Bank of Anguilla; the General Post Office; the Caribbean Commercial Centre; the James Ronald Webster Building, housing Social Security; St. Gerard’s Roman Catholic Church; and, immediately to the south-east, the Clayton J. Lloyd International Airport.
Work on the Carter Rey Boulevard is soon to commence. Commenting on the project, Mr. Haydn Hughes, the Minister of Infrastructure, says: “There have been some concerns about the tamarind trees. I have always had those concerns as well. When we were going through the designs I came up with all sorts of different ideas about how we can incorporate the trees without destroying them. Other people came with different ideas and so forth, but none of those ideas were in terms of road safety.
“One of the things I was thinking about – and I don’t know if it is possible, but I am consulting with some horticulturists – is whether or not those trees can be removed and replanted. I know that there are some volunteers who are going to volunteer their equipment. My brother also said he would volunteer his crane to hold the trees, and so forth, and to relocate them.
“If it is possible to relocate the trees, we are asking persons to volunteer their time, effort and resources to relocate them. I would hate to see probably hundred-year-old trees are destroyed even in the interest of national development. We must be able to marry our national development with the environment. It is just unfortunate that those trees fall almost in the middle of the road. There are some people who are saying you can leave the trees in the middle of the road, but it is a tremendous hazard; and the first accident people are going to be screaming.”
Among those objecting to the removal of the tamarind trees is the Anguilla Archaeological and Historical Society. A statement from the organisation is published elsewhere in this edition of The Anguillian newspaper.
