Speightstown Out - St. Lucy In

Prime Minister David Thompson in St. Lucy last week

A frail-looking Prime Minister David Thompson gave the clearest hint yet that government is leaning toward St. Lucy over Speightstown, St. Peter for the planned second cruise port for Barbados. This comes just over a year after Tourism Minister Richard Sealy's statement indicating that Speightstown had the nod. Yesterday the Barbados Advocate reported:

"While stating that the [Pickerings New Town] project has the potential of increasing market opportunities for St. Lucy he [the Prime Minister] said that he was “convinced” that MP for St. Lucy Denis Kellman may get a “long overdue airport and cruise terminal”.

He stated that Government has had offers from people to establish private airport facilities for private jet aircraft and a cruise terminal could be beneficial since a lot of activities take place in the north..."

Some might say that again politics seems to be trumping common sense on the location of the cruise port, as indeed, some have been criticizing the whole Pickerings/New Town project which is to be built on some of the best agricultural land in St. Lucy (much of it already owned by government). In a land-scarce country the question must be asked - what kind of example government is setting vis-a-vis reviving agriculture? It has not gone unnoticed that one of the principals of the company behind Pickerings/New Town is a high ranking member of the governing party and a former parliamentarian for St. Lucy himself. This clue to how things get done in Barbados may also be instructive on how the decision will come down at the other end of the island on the Long Beach/Chancery Lane wetlands project where yet another governing party politician has designs.

Speightstown Cruise Port Madness

Mullins Bay Blog: St. Lucy MP Comes Out Swinging Against Speightstown In Today’s Advocate

More Line Noise On The Northern Cruise Port

“PLANS ARE AFOOT for the construction of a small Port in Speightstown, St Peter.
Minister of Tourism Richard Sealy said yesterday that basic adjustments would be made to the jetty in Speightstown to accommodate small vessels.
"Given the structure of the area, large cruise vessels will not be able to berth there, but officials are looking at the potential economic benefits of having another port," he said.
Although he could not say how soon vessels would start berthing, or what would be the overall cost of the project, Sealy said having a port in Speightstown would mean that visitors to the island coming in at that end would bring more life to the area and hopefully more revenue.
The minister made the comments while speaking at the launch of the Bajan Pride Expositions at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, Two Mile Hill.
In an interview later Pierre Spenard, owner of Mangoes By The Sea Restaurant in Speightstown, said while he had heard of the plans, the whole town was "just sitting on a fence waiting to see what will happen".
He said a port in Speightstown would help restore the town to its historic stature, and would offer a chance to promote better community tourism.
"It would be nice to see Speightstown retain its character. It used to be the capital of this great country, and it's rich in heritage tradition and history."
He said a look at Arlington House Museum across the street would show the full life of the town. Spenard has been in that location for 14 years and said the town hadn't moved much, outside of Arlington House Museum and Archer's Hall.
Owner of Fisherman Pub and Beach Bar, Clement Armstrong, said he too had heard of the plan, even under the previous government, and although he would welcome the initiative, the question was when would it happen?
"I have welcomed the idea since 14 years ago, but I am still waiting to hear when it will start. We had trial runs one year and when the people came, the first thing they asked was 'where is Holetown?'
"Nobody knows about Speightstown; it is a black business place. But it's 20 minutes away from the Wildlife Reserve, Farley Hill, Bathsheba and Animal Flower Cave, so it would take a load off the traffic in Bridgetown and may bring good business," he said.”

Source: NationNews.com

 

Church Street, Speightstown, Barbados 2009

Click image to enlarge

See also: Northern Cruie Port

Of Cruise Ports And Marinas

Last month during the Estimates Debate the new Prime Minister announced that it was the intention of the new government to build a new cruise port in the north of the island mainly because of the security concerns of having half a dozen large cruise liners in the Bridgetown Port at the same time. That debate was joined this week with the island’s largest construction magnate, Sir Charles Williams, suggesting that the new port should be located on the site of the cement plant at Checker Hall in St. Lucy. He seems also to be suggesting that the Trinidad-owned cement plant be permanently closed or moved to the Bridgetown Port site near the flour mill.

Keep in mind that he is making this latter statement only days after the announcement of a hike in the price of cement by as much as BDS$1 per bag, and that Sir Charles owns a huge estate in St. Lucia where construction materials are being mined, which he is already using to resurface roads in St. Lucia and Barbados. He also claims that cement can be imported more cheaply from within the region, by as much as 40% less, than when it is produced in Barbados.

However, getting back to the new state of the art cruise port itself, the polo-playing septuagenarian thinks it will revitalize Speightstown and give tourism on the island a shot in the arm. Sir Charles also claims that even excluding his own Port St. Charles (no pun intended) there is room for three more marinas in the northwest of the inland including the second one he wants to build in St. Peter at Retreat for which he is still awaiting planning permission after several years.

During the recent general elections the whole issue of another marina in St. Peter at Retreat/Six Mens became something of a political football since it included the hot-potato issue of relocating people. The position of the previous government was that some people had to be moved from Six Mens not to make way for Sir Charles’ new marina but for a fishing facility and a lagoon for sheltering boats during hurricane season; and that since a new marina was on the cards next door at Retreat, then environmental and other impact studies were combined.

Of course, the previous government was also accusing the then opposition of moving a planned jetty for Six Mens to St. John for party political purposes the last time they were in power in Barbados. Keep in mind also that during the last regime a jetty was built and the fish market rebuilt in Speightstown at a time when there is very little or no fishing being done in Speightstown. Consequently, there was some talk of the jetty being able to berth cruise liners. So, it will be very interesting in the coming months and years to watch what gets done (if anything) as the major players both in government and the private sector go through the required motions of the song and dance that it takes to get things done in Barbados.

Meanwhile, this just in.