Leader of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines opposition party, Dr. Godwin Friday, is of the view that the government does not have any plan for the development of the Ottley Hall marina.
“It’s quite clear to me that they don’t have a plan for the repair and refurbishment of the dry dock and the facility in general. “There is no plan to bring it to the level that is required for it to function effectively as a marina and dockyard and create jobs for young people.”
Friday stated that when the former prime minister, Sir James Mitchell, and the NDP devised the project, it was as a means of diversifying the economy around agriculture because they knew that banana production was declining.
“The idea was that agriculture would have to be reinvented, so to speak, but at the same time, you also had to look at other areas of the economy that we could use. We are a shipbuilding and seafaring nation; look at our history. It was a natural fit”.
The opposition leader said the present government, when they were in opposition, made a big deal about it, and eventually the debt was completely forgiven.
“Here you have made your political hay out of it.” “You have had a commission of inquiry where you tried to blame Sir James, to make him criminally culpable, and the NDP for shortcomings with the project’s financing, but all of that went for naught because they spent over $7 million on the commission of inquiry and nothing came out,” Friday said.
Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves stated at the recent parliamentary session that the administration was in communication with three potential investors interested in the Ottley Hall Marina.
Gonsalves said the three from St. Lucia, Trinidad, and Guyana respectively have all made visits to the facility.
