If an impressive list of economic projects, outlined by Premier Dr. Ellis Lorenzo Webster, turns out to be feasible and successful, Anguilla could well be on its way to much development in the coming few years.
He made the disclosure when he appeared in a 35-minute Radio Anguilla interview with Keith (Stone) Greaves on Monday, October 25.
In his own words, the Premier listed the planned projects as follows:
“Two hundred and fifteen acres of land in Sile Bay and Savannah Bay was bought on auction back in July and we have met with the principals who bought it. They have been in Anguilla at least twice and have already submitted outline planning to the Physical Planning Department. A marina, hotel and luxury villas will be done up there. They are moving very rapidly and aggressively to get that started and done, and even now they are putting in an application for an alien landholding licence – and they are also working on an MOU.
“That will be a good project especially in the east. We have always said we need a good project in the east – so that persons from districts one and two do not have to travel all the way to district 7 for work.”
The Premier disclosed that other projects planned for Anguilla include medical schools. He said that one of the owners of two medical schools in Belize was currently in Anguilla working on establishing one such facility, and that an MOU for that was almost completed. He also reported that two other medical schools had shown interest in setting up in Anguilla and that MOUs were in the course of preparation.
He further said: “We have the Altamer Marina project – and an MOU for that is just waiting to be signed by the principals. The project, at Rendezvous Beach, will be for a marina, luxury villas and a hotel. We are very close on that. The only thing is basically the land, and I am very hopeful it will be finalised.”
Another proposed project, about which the Premier spoke, was a solar project now under discussion. “I think it is public information that ANGLEC is working to get renewable companies or investors to make proposals,” he stated. “There are at least two. And now there is a third company or investor group that has shown interest in setting up a renewable energy [company] in Anguilla – and then selling that energy to ANGLEC through a power purchase agreement for distribution.”
Meanwhile, Premier Webster commented on the sale of Paradise Cove. He explained that it is not an expansion of Aurora Anguilla Resort as Aurora is a specific project within CuisinArt.
“The owners of Aurora, through a local registered company, did buy Paradise Cove and some of the villas,” he revealed. “They could have bought it and do whatever they wanted… and it is for short-term use so that they can have persons rent from them. We [the Government of Anguilla] wanted short-term use – less than six months a year because that generates Accommodation Tax or GST that would have to be paid. They cannot have any visitors or residents living there for more than the six-month time – less than 183 days. I don’t think that offends the policy, unwritten as it is, that the investors cannot provide housing for their employees.”
Asked whether there were any legal issues which could possibly arise from that arrangement, Premier Webster stressed: “We got advice from the Attorney General’s Chambers on this, and I think that we are on the side that this doesn’t offend any policies written or unwritten; and so the legal ramifications are covered in that regard.”
Commenting on further development plans by Aurora Resort, the Premier stated: “We congratulate Mr. Schulze and his principals for Aurora Airline which will be providing flights direct from the United States to Anguilla…He has restaurants and the golf course finishing up. There is a second nine-hole golf course being built. He will be building luxury villas and also an amphitheatre – an open-air performance centre. I want to thank Mr. Schulze for taking on that project, for expanding it and providing construction jobs. I also thank him for continuing to hire the Anguillians who were working there – and now having over 150 new employees working at Aurora Anguilla.”
Responding to concerns expressed by a number of local individuals regarding one or two investors, with great wealth, taking up so much of the Anguillian real estate, Premier Webster had this to say:
“I have always had concern about any one entity owning a lot of Anguilla because I feel that who plays the pipe will call the tune – and then start to determine what policies are put in place, and how things are to be run. That would certainly be something that we would be against.
“There are a lot of distressed properties in Anguilla. We lost two banks. They had a lot of collateral – over 700 million dollars – in distressed loans, and I think at some point we need to get Anguilla back on track, and that will require that some of the properties are alienated. We want to do that in a managed way and that is already in place through the Receiver’s Office which was set up in the Banking Resolution of 2016. Those will be sold to the East Caribbean Asset Management Company, which is already formed, and for which an Act went into place in November of 2015 – so these are things already in place.”
He continued: “Even though there has to be an arm’s length relationship between us, the Receiver, and the East Caribbean Asset Management Company, we still feel that we have to represent Anguilla and Anguillians. And so, we are involved in making sure that we preserve Anguilla for Anguillians. Some [properties], as I said, will have to become alienated, especially the big commercial properties but, in terms of Anguillian-owned homes, etc. we have been very active in trying to preserve those for the people of Anguilla. We are asking, through NCBA and the Receiver’s Office, that we should try to be as lenient as possible to keep those in Anguilla – and owned by Anguillians.”
Premier Webster held out the hope that, with a number of planned projects on the horizon, Anguilla would be in a better economic position later on.
