Barbados' East Coast Rocks

Kerrazy Times - Carribean from SURFING Magazine on Vimeo.

What Recession? Miami-Dade Tourism Soars

Pierhead Project Turns Into Expensive Little Marina

"Construction of marina in bridgetown to begin in about nine months

Years of delay and controversy are about to culminate with the construction of an upscale $202 million marina in Bridgetown, work on which is expected to start early next year. But by the time Barbados has finished paying for the super yacht facility in 25 years, the tax payers would have spent $505 million in a Build Operate Lease and Transfer deal with a St. Lucia company.

However, Minister of Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler asserted today that the benefits would be significant, including $132 million from the reclamation of lands and sale of 80 berths alone.  Sinckler announced plans for the project, to be located in the area of the Pierhead/Bay Street/Carlisle Bay section of the City, via a ministerial statement delivered in the House of Assembly this morning on the resumption of sittings.  He said following completion of a tendering process, Government agency the Barbados Tourism Investment Inc. had signed a memorandum of understanding with St. Lucia's SMI Infrastructure Solutions Inc. for the venture to take place.

"The project, which has been under consideration for several administrations, and for many years, will see the construction of a super yacht marina consisting of approximately 80 berths...," he said.  "The memorandum of understanding was signed with SMI Infrastructure Solutions Inc. for a Build, Own, Lease and Transfer financing arrangement. "With the marina expected to cost $202 million, Sinckler said Government would have to make annual payments of $20.2 million at an interest rate of 8.8 per cent and that "lease payments will reduce overtime in accordance with the quantum and timing of cost recovery".

Barbados' overall payments between next year and 2037 will be $505 million, including interest of $303 million, but the St. Michael North West MP suggested the benefits would outweigh the costs.

"Cost recovery is estimated at US $66 million for the reclamation of lands and the sale of berths. This transformational tourism infrastructural project will assist in repositioning the Barbados tourism product offering, while being the catalyst for the regeneration of the Bridgetown area," he said.  "The tourism product offering will also move towards the upper end of the tourism market by attracting more high net worth individuals, who can be expected to own berths at the super yacht marina. They will also purchase condominiums on the 10 acres of prime real estate that will be created through the reclaimed lands, which are the by-product of the building of the marina."  Additionally, the minister said development of the marina "will result in enhancement of the beach in the immediate vicinity of Carlisle Bay, which will be targeted by the coastal tourism master plan for future development".

"Other economic benefits include the injection of foreign exchange into Barbados, the creation of hundreds of jobs during the construction and permanent jobs after construction, repositioning of Barbados' tourism product and the marina acting as a catalyst for major new investment along the Bay Street corridor," he noted.
"Construction is expected to commence in about nine months and prior to the commencement of construction stakeholder meetings will be held."

Construction of a marina in Bridgetown has been in the offing for well over a decade, with a previous administration originally seeking to partner with local conglomerate Barbados Shipping & Trading, a major landowner in the area.  In recent times the current administration's handling of the venture has been criticised repeatedly by Opposition Leader Owen Arthur, who claimed the projected cost had risen to more than $626 million and it was facing legal difficulties."

Source: Barbados Today

.

Whale Watching Off Barbados

Click here to follow story on our forum.

.

Nightmare 12-Hour Flight From BGI To JFK

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/09/caitlin-gorry-american-airlines_n_833349.html

Urbanisation vs. The Countryside: Barbados Becomes a City State

"An SOS has gone out to Government to withstand pressure from developers and save the Scotland District from the rapid urban sprawl sweeping across Barbados.

However, president of the Barbados National Trust and historian Dr. Karl Watson believes that the urbanisation of Barbados as it moves towards becoming a city state is “unstoppable”.

“The Scotland District is the last frontier that the real estate barons of this island are going to target, and not only are they going to target it, but they are going to actively develop it,” he warned.

He has reservations about Government’s ability to prevent this kind of development.

“I think that even with the best will in the world and with the imposition of controls and with the full authority that Town and Country Planning has, I think that the economic aspect of development and the economic drivers of development are so gargantuan, so all-consuming, overpowering, that they are going to break down any hurdle that we put in their way to act as a brake on this runaway development.”

The noted historian and archaeologist was delivering a lecture entitled Urbanisation vs. The Countryside: Barbados Becomes a City State at the LB Harcourt Lewis Training Room, Barbados

Public Workers Credit Union Headquarters, on Monday night. It was part of the 13th anniversary celebrations of the Urban Development Commission.

Watson said the National Trust eagerly awaited the day when the formal Cabinet decision to legally establish the National Park of Barbados would become reality.

“... We need some guarantee that at some point in time in the next 15 or 20 years there will be some green spaces left in this island that we can go out and enjoy. It has to be done,” he said.

With the assistance of maps and photographs spanning three centuries, he illustrated how “urbanisation from the east and urbanisation from the west are meeting”.
The decline in acreage for sugar production from nearly 52 000 acres in 1966 to 17 000 in 2005 was cited as an indication of how agriculture had progressively given way
to housing development.

“From North Point to South Point we are busy cementing over every available square inch that we can,” Watson observed. “We have to say enough is enough. Let us slow this process.”

“Ultimately it moves out of the hands of Government and has to come back to us the people,” he added.

“We have to decide as a people, do we collectively reduce our expectations so that we don’t continue to ruin the environment of this island [or] do we restrain our zeal for consumption?”"

Source: NationNews.com

.

Video: New Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental unveiled

Video: New Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental unveiled

The World Is In A Coma: More lessons for those who would Dubaify Barbados

Proposed island to be located north of Bridgetown Port

"The islands were intended as the ultimate luxury possession, even for Dubai.  But the World, the ambitiously-constructed archipelago of islands shaped like the countries of the globe, is sinking back into the sea, according to evidence cited before a property tribunal.

The islands were intended to be developed with tailor-made hotel complexes and luxury villas, and sold to millionaires. They are off the coast of Dubai and accessible by yacht or motor boat.

Now their sands are eroding and the navigational channels between them are silting up, the British lawyer for a company bringing a case against the state-run developer, Nakheel, has told judges.

"The islands are gradually falling back into the sea," Richard Wilmot-Smith QC, for Penguin Marine, said. The evidence showed "erosion and deterioration of The World islands", he added.

With all but one of the islands still uninhabited – Greenland – and that one a showpiece owned by the ruler of Dubai, most of the development plans have been brought to a crashing halt by the financial crisis..."

Click here to read entire Telegraph article.

.

Abramovich, Eclipse & Barbados: Three of a kind

Source: Barbados TravelAdvisor Forum

REDjet ready to fly

"THE Caribbean’s newest airline hit the ground for the first time on Thursday.

But it’s not up and running just yet.

REDjet, expected to bring low-fare seats to the rest of the Caribbean, touched down at the Grantley Adams International Airport for the first time Thursday afternoon.

The airline will be operate out of Barbados.

A number of Barbadians were interviewed for jobs with the company earlier in September.

The first MD82 aircraft received a warm welcome as two tenders of the Barbados Fire Service’s Airport Division also came on the tarmac and gave it a showery blessing just after touchdown via a water-cannon salute, as is customary when airlines come to Barbados for the first time.

On arrival, the company’s two top executives, chief executive officer Ian Burns and his son Robbie, held a special function with photographers aboard the aircraft taking pictures of the maiden flight into Grantley Adams.

The two then posed in the cockpit with a Barbados flag to commemorate their first arrival.

No REDjet agents are in place at Grantley Adams just yet, but the airline is expected to start taking on passengers from as early as January next year.

Cost

REDjet was founded in 2006 when CEO Burns, working in the region at the time, was amazed by the cost of flights within the region and on routes to the United States and Latin America.

There was a huge disparity in the market, as Caribbean carriers were losing substantial sums year after year while the American carriers flying into the region were reporting the Caribbean to be their most profitable market.

Working with his son Robbie, who is the company’s business development manager, the father and son team built REDjet in conjunction with investors to develop the first Caribbean Low Fares Airline and bring the substantial economic and social benefits of low-cost travel.

REDjet is a privately owned airline with a mixture of international and local backers who share a common vision of lower fares to make travel affordable for everyone in the Caribbean.

Over the past two months, the 42 members of the all-Barbadian cabin crew have completed intense operational, medical emergency, ground school and aircraft safety training on the MD-82 aircraft, just like the one which arrived Thursday.

The preparations were conducted locally and at the world-renowned PanAm International Flight Academy in Florida, United States. The final phase of training will take place once the company’s first aircraft arrives in Barbados.

“We took a holistic approach to our MD-82 training and included a member of the Barbados Civil Aviation Department who trained alongside our crew, thus ensuring there was a local expert on the aircraft in Barbados,” Burns noted upon the plane’s arrival.

“To date we have invested over BDS$1 million in the flight training so our team will be ready to welcome passengers once we have received final permissions from the regulators to commence operations.”"

Source: NationNews.com

.