In 2018 the AUF Government of Anguilla contracted Edgewater Resources, 7501 NW 4th Street, Ste 208 Plantation, FL 33317 USA to prepare a Feasibility Study for a mega yacht marina for Anguilla. To finance this study they used vital Social Security assets.
On June 12th 2018 Edgewater Resources delivered a document to The Government of Anguilla.
The document that Edgewater delivered, by any stretch of the imagination, was very far from a feasibility study and in fact was a glossy brochure for a real estate development padded out with some clever Photoshop manipulation.
It did not include any scientific measurements made in the proposed locations. What science that was presented was gleaned from secondary sources not measurement. The document that was delivered was NOT a Feasibility Study. Such a study for Sandy Ground Salt Pond, at the barest minimum, would have included
Bathymetry of Road Bay and environs.
Engineering Impact of dredging pond on underlying geology of sand bar
Soil testing of proposed dredged area of Road Bay
Current Measurements to determine silting and sedimentation
Study of marine flora and fauna impacted in the bay
Soil testing, seismic profiling Road Salt Pond. Suitability of mud as fill.
And on it goes.
A feasibility study for a project like this encompasses every single aspect that could impact whether the project was doable and at what cost to the developer. When SF Marina tosses off the figure of $270,000,000 development cost one asks oneself, Based on what? Not certainly on any study. SF Marina AB is not a dredging company and it would be impossible for them to have obtained a quotation for dredging without very extensive scientific study. So where was 270 million dreamed up from?
Another example: Does the sheet piling in the pond need to be 30 feet or 60 feet long? This is impossible to ascertain without core drilling or seismic measurements. What material should this piling be? What are the corrosive effects of sulphuric acid H2SO4 on steel piles? Such differences would hugely impact cost.
The government took the Edgewater brochure and used it as the basis for awarding that company a marketing contract. On the basis of that brochure, SF Marina AB Sweden, the developer apparent, wrote an agreement called the “Definitive Agreement” and persuaded the government to sign it. The then Minister of infrastructure, who should have been key to any decision making in this regard, later admitted on radio that he hadn’t read the agreement. If you were writing a novel you couldn’t make this stuff up.
Written on behalf of Sandy Ground Community
– Contributed
