Lessons In Sustainability For The Barbados Brand

The Government Of Barbados Distances Itself From The Merricks

If you blinked last week you probably missed it - "it" being the ground-breaking exercises for the "destination that is different” in Merricks, St. Philip, Barbados.  Both leading papers carried front page articles covering  the event, but curiously neither of them mentioned any members of the current government of Barbados in attendance.  Ok, I suppose the Prime Minister gets a pass because he is ailing and we all have him our prayers, but where was his deputy, or the Minister of Tourism, or even the Parliamentary Representative for the constituency?  This is certainly a "different" ground-breaking for Barbados for a project that's supposedly worth nearly a billion dollars in construction.

A few months ago they hauled the Prime Minister off his sickbed to turn the sod at Pickerings, St. Lucy on a project where we later learned that the principals probably have no money let alone own the land upon which it is to be built.  Perhaps it's the flak off Pickerings that has made Government gun-shy on Merricks.  Whatever it is or was, it speaks reams about the level of trust and confidence the Government of Barbados has in the project at Merricks when reportedly the highest public official in attendance at its ground-breaking was the Minister of Tourism - not of Barbados - but of St. Vincent And The Grenadines.

This blogger who has followed the vicissitudes of The Merricks over the years became so concerned about this obvious "different" turn of events that I raised it as a question with two senior civil servants, one with over 40 years experience who boasted that it was the civil servants who build Barbados - not the politicians.  To my surprise both of them pleaded ignorance of The Merricks - they didn't know what it was or anything about its existence.  To be fair, neither of them were in tourism, but I find it inexcusable that a Permanent Secretary in the Government of Barbados would have no knowledge of the saga of The Merricks and Harlequin Properties in Barbados or the rest of the Caribbean regardless of his/her portfolio.  This Permanent Secretary also went on to boast of (as a general rule) not reading either of the two main daily papers, so that should tell us all something about him, if not about the state of governance in this country.

Lack of government trust and confidence notwithstanding, Harlequin did "finally" break ground on The Merricks Resort last week and is already proudly proclaiming it to the rest of the world on its website.  They even include links to the articles in the Advocate and the Nation even though the latter made the absence of the Government of Barbados pretty obvious.  We know also that they (Harlequin) recently had a "soft opening" (re: unfinished and trouble-ridden) on their St. Vincent property, Buccament Bay Resort, and are widely promoting (re: collecting deposits on) other unstarted/unfinished resorts in St. Lucia, the Dominican Republic, Brazil and probably other locations.  Many people (apparently now including the Government of Barbados) have been looking for what many have termed a house of cards to come tumbling down, but so far it has defied the odds.    

Lesson for those who would Dubaify Barbados

"Dubai's central belief, summed up frequently as 'build it and they will come', has served it well in the past, however the policy crashed badly in the financial crisis leaving a landscape of half-finished skyscrapers...

A glut of vacant office space is continuing to spiral, despite the economic crisis, thanks to the forests of new tower blocks started by developers as the boom reached it peak in 2007, researchers said.

With some "holes in the ground" awaiting further development already being filled in, further radical solutions to the problem are needed, said the authors, researching for the property firm Jones Lang LaSalle.

"The best prospect for reducing vacancies lies with initiatives to limit future supply and encourage the withdrawal of existing buildings from stock through conversion to non-office buildings or even demolition," the report concludes..."

Read more: Dubai may have to knock down buildings constructed during boom - Telegraph

See also: Mullins Bay Blog: "This Is Monaco: Is This What We Want For Barbados?"

.

Turtle Butchered

Barbados TravelAdvisor • View topic - Turtle Butchered

Is Singapore Airlines Coming To Barbados?

"Singapore has concluded open skies agreements (OSAs) with Barbados, Brazil, Jamaica and Rwanda, at the International Civil Aviation Organization Air Services Negotiation Conference 2010 (ICAN 2010), held recently in Jamaica.


ICAN 2010 offers a central meeting place for air services officials from various countries to meet and conduct bilateral air services negotiations. The OSAs with Barbados and Jamaica are the first between Singapore and the Caribbean community. The Singapore-Brazil OSA comes on the back of the Singapore-Peru OSA, which was concluded in 2009 together with the establishment of Air Services Agreements with Colombia and Ecuador. The OSA with Rwanda is Singapore’s second with an African country, after the Singapore-Zambia OSA that was concluded in 2008.


Without restrictions on capacity, frequency or routing, OSAs allow carriers the full flexibility to introduce services when market opportunities arise. Carriers are also able to tap on traffic from and to third countries to improve the commercial viability of their operations. Direct air links with Singapore will allow businesses in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbeans to access more markets by tapping on Singapore’s excellent connectivity to the Asia Pacific region. This will reinforce the growing people and trade flows between these regions and the Asia Pacific. The establishment of liberal air services frameworks between Singapore and more countries in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbeans pave the way for such benefits.


There are currently no direct flight connections between Singapore and Latin America or the Caribbeans. In Africa, Singapore Airlines operates passenger services to Egypt and South Africa, while Singapore Airlines Cargo operates cargo services to Kenya and South Africa.


Apart from sealing OSAs with the four countries at ICAN 2010, Singapore and Fiji also concluded an open skies framework for cargo services and expanded traffic rights entitlements for passenger operations between and beyond both countries.  Yap Ong Heng, Director-General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore welcomed the recent developments, saying, “airlines operate in a challenging environment with dynamic markets. It is thus critical for countries to proactively put in place air services frameworks that enable airlines the commercial freedom to respond to market opportunities.""

 Source:  mb.com.ph

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.

After 4 Years Of Selling Thin Air Merricks Gets The Big Green Light

"The much awaited $400 million resort development project planned for Merricks St. Philip has received approval from the Town and Country Planning Office.


Word has come in the local press that developers of 70 acre development received planning permission on May 19th, 2010 and now it appears that all systems are ago for the project.


Although a small number of investors have demanded refunds due to the lengthy delay in receiving planning permission for the property.


The tourist complex includes three five-star hotel blocks, eight apartment blocks, 18 “plantation” houses, 42 one-bedroom cabanas, a 500-seat conference room, restaurants, shops and a spa village..." 

Click here for more =>> Barbados TravelAdvisor • View topic - Merricks Resort Gets Government Nod

.

Pierhead battle brewing

"Government may face court action over its handling of the award of a contract for construction of the multi-million dollar Pierhead Marina Development Project.

An American law firm representing Irish company Lagan Construction Limited has written the board of the Barbados Tourism Investment Inc. (BTII) citing an alleged breach of an “agreement” it said was reached between its client and the BTII last November for the said contract and is now threatening to “move swiftly to protect its rights”.

Barbados TODAY has learnt that the BTII and by extension Government were given until last Wednesday to respond to a three-page letter from Washington D.C. law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP on behalf of its client Lagan, otherwise they would seek legal recourse.

This was after a November 13, 2009 decision by the BTII’s four member Project and Tenders Committee headed by then chairman Dr. Jerry Thorne to award the Pierhead contract to Lagan was overturned and the decision communicated directly to Lagan International Director, Richard Jones.

That letter sent from Barbadian law firm Inn Chambers last November 27 on behalf of the BTII and copied to BTTI CEO Stuart Layne and Thorne, charged that Thorne had “acted ultra vires” (beyond his powers) and that “the entirety of the contents of the said correspondence in no way represents the position of the Barbados Tourism Investment Inc”. The chairman tendered his resignation three days later and it was accepted.

But the controversy does not start or end there..."

Follow this link for more - Pierhead battle brewing

AirOne Apparently Not Dead ... Yet

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados — AIRONE Ventures Limited (AVL), a start-up airline, which three years ago sought a home in Jamaica, is likely to begin operations in Barbados later this year.

AVL, which has a Barbados address, is advertising for several positions including line training captains, captains, first officers, cabin crew, human resources and facilities manager, among others.

The advertisements for flight crews said candidates should have an International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) licence with current type rating on MD 80 aircraft.

With a "launching low fares" tagline, AVL said it would be positioning as the first Caribbean low-cost carrier.

Airone Holdings Limited has named the Irish-based communications firm Digicel as its marketing and sales partner.

No information was immediately available about AVL's routes but the company had previously said it would operate flights between the Caribbean and the United States.

The airline had initially planned to operate two Boeing 737-300 aircraft, which it said it would lease for between US$200,000 and US$400,000 per month and gradually expand to five within two years.

AVL had sought national carrier status in Jamaica and signalled its intention to set up in Barbados once its application to the Jamaican authorities was denied.

The airline had argued that with its base in Jamaica, it would have generated more than 200 new skilled jobs in the first year of operation, contribute two per cent to gross domestic product and a minimum of US$65 million in taxes to the government.

Source: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Airone-likely-to-commence-operations-this-year_7626912

See also: West Coast Blog: AirOne Still Standing By For Takeoff

Search For The Good Life Barbados

Barbados TravelAdvisor • View topic - Barbados, insider's

Posted using ShareThis