Some residents holding out for more at Argyle International airport site

Some 80 Argyle property owners have been paid to the tune of EC$30 million, while some of the other 51 property owners who are still to be paid are believed to be holding out for a more lucrative offer.

Chairman of the International Airport Development Company (IADC), Dr Rudy Matthias, speaking to SEARCHLIGHT earlier this week said that all was on stream for the Argyle International Airport.{{more}}

“The reason why there has not been any payment to the other property owners is because some are still to accept the payment offers, while there are some that are finalizing their deeds,” Dr Matthias said.

He said that he is confident that as crunch time approaches, those that are holding out would make wise decisions.

The earth works are set to begin in November this year, as the workers have already been mobilized in Cuba.

Dr Matthias said that the money is in place to pay the property owners, as two loans: EC$20 million and EC$30 million, have been secured from the National Insurance Services and First Caribbean International Bank respectively.

He is however pleased with the way the sale of crown lands has been going, stating that National Properties Ltd has been doing much better than would have been expected at this time.

This has been confirmed by Manager of National Properties Ltd., Harold Dougan, who told SEARCHLIGHT that investors are beating down their doors to invest in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

“Mt Wynne, Peters Hope, Bequia and Union Island are hot spots for investors,” said Dougan, who explained that it is only a matter of weeding out the undesirables and getting the best possible investors for the various parcels of lands.

Dougan said that he is confident of meeting the EC$100 million target that has been set as St Vincent and the Grenadines’ contribution towards the International Airport.

“National Properties has sold lands on behalf of the International Airport Development Company to the value of $18.35 million. These sales have mostly been residential parcels and the purchasers have been almost equally foreigners and local nationals,” Dougan said.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves said that $41.3 million was all that was needed to secure a one hundred percent financing of the airport.

This money, he explained, will be sought from a “coalition of the willing”, including Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico, and the recently established CARICOM Regional Development Fund (RDF).

Dr Gonsalves however noted that there were enough crown lands that could be sold to meet any deficit that occurs.

“We have hundreds of millions of dollars worth of land and many investors waiting for an opportunity,” said Dougan, agreeing with Dr Gonsalves.

Meanwhile Pat Mitchell of the People’s Action Alliance of Bequia (PAAB) remains in strong objection to government’s strategy of selling crown lands to fund the IADC.

“It is total exploitation of Bequia, do they really want Bequia to be mainly owned by foreigners?” Mitchell asked.

The IADC’s Dr. Matthias also said that he expects that the airport would cost less than the EC$480 million originally estimated by the Canadian Engineering and Consulting firm, Marshall, Macklin, and Monaghan (MMM).

He said that one key area of reduction would be in the area of project management. MMM had estimated project management expenditure of about $9 million per year to the tune of $55 million.

The IADC however only spent $2.5 million last year for project management and this year, they don’t expect to exceed $3 million.

Dr Matthias doesn’t expect the IADC to spend $9 million for project management in any year of the project.