The image of developer Richard Schulze as he stood in the doorway of the Aurora Anguilla aircraft with his arms outstretched is forever etched in my mind. The inaugural flight of Aurora Anguilla airline is a significant milestone in addressing the longstanding challenge of air access to Anguilla. By investing in airplanes to bring his guests to the new Aurora Anguilla Resort, Mr Schulze has demonstrated his commitment to ensuring the success of his resort project. This is the first time we have seen an investment of this nature by a tourism investor, many of whom have been appealing to Government for many years to find a viable solution to the access issue. Judging from his iconic pose, the significance of the moment was obviously not lost on Mr Schulze.
We are appreciative of the investment being made in Aurora as it bodes well for the people of Anguilla who will benefit from the operation of the Aurora Resort — either through direct employment or the provision of goods and services to the resort and its guests.
We have also learned that Mr Schulze has been purchasing other properties in Anguilla. At the time of writing, we are unsure as to what use those properties will be put. However, we trust that our Government was sufficiently astute to ensure that the interests of the wider Anguillian community was given first priority in its negotiations with Mr Schulze. While we appreciate that investors’ first priority is protecting their investment and maximising their profit, we expect that Government’s first priority would be protecting and providing for our people.
Unfortunately, if it is one thing we have learned about developers, over the years, it is that they have a tendency to hold Government to ransom when things don’t go their way. How many times have we seen developers write to Government threatening to close down their resorts (which means leaving hundreds of people unemployed), or take some other drastic action, if Government proceeded with a new policy or tax measure? In fact, we have seen developers use reverse psychology to get the staff to rally against Government. They threaten to take certain actions in relation to the staff and explain that their reason for doing so is that Government is going to be implementing a new policy. Fearful of being unemployed, staff then bombard their elected representatives, and Government, with their opposition to the proposal — sometimes to their own detriment.
While this may not be applicable to Mr Schulze, I share these thoughts to warn our Government that the more a single developer invests, the more property he or she owns — the more power he or she wields. Government therefore has to exercise good judgment when considering investment proposals — and ensure that it is not creating a situation that will come back to bite us later.
That being said, we welcome Aurora Airlines to Anguilla. And we look forward to the success of Aurora Anguilla Resort and any other affiliated development. I would like to believe that if Aurora succeeds, Anguilla also wins. We have to trust that our Government has put the right measures in place to make sure that as many Anguillians as possible benefit from these investments.
