Francis: Buccament must be protected

General Secretary of the Unity Labour Party (ULP) Senator Julian Francis says the Buccament Bay Resort development is a child of the ULP administration and must be protected against those who want to bring it down.{{more}}

Speaking on Star Radio on Tuesday evening, Francis, who is also Minister of Transport and Works said after hearing so many negatives about the project, he decided to visit the Resort to see for himself what is going on there.

“You listen to Hot 97 on mornings and you listen to the NDP programming and you will hear all these negative things said about Buccament. I want to look on the other side of Buccament tonight and tell you what Buccament represents and what exists at Buccament today.”

He said the developers have invested over EC$400 million into the project, and at present, 120 villlas are in operation, with two five-storey apartment buildings still under construction. Each of these apartment buildings, he said, will have 300 or 350 rooms.

“Those who are talking about some little negatives about Buccament, I want them to visit down there.”

Francis said at present, construction work to the value of US$6 million is being carried out at the site, as another bar and restaurant, the apartment buildings and more villas are being constructed.

He said the construction work is being carried out by approximately 15 to 20 local sub-contractors, who together employ close to 600 construction workers.

He emphasized that it is not Buccament or Harlequin who employs the construction workers.

Francis said the “noise” which is heard on the radio about Buccament owing people does not have to do with the

320 persons employed directly by Harlequin in the hotel. He said the problem has to do with some of the sub-contractors.

“The way Buccament operates their business down there, they have quantity surveyors, when they give out contracts to these sub-contractors; there is a value placed, and like everything else in the construction industry, you get paid in stages. …If the quantity surveyor does the assessment for the second phase and you have not completed the second phase, you don’t get the extra 25%. You will get a 10%, 15%, depending on the percentage of the work done. That is norm in the construction industry.”

Francis said when that happens, some of the contractors cut back on staff or do not give them full payment, promising to pay when they themselves are paid.

“That is what is what is creating a lot of the bacchanal down there, that they are talking about on radio. It is within the construction area of the hotel operation, not between Buccament and the workers you know, but between the sub-contractors and the workers. You have some quarrel between Buccament and the contractors, because they question when the quantity surveyors say no…,” the Minister said.

He, however, urged Vincentians to regard the Buccament investment in the same way as they would the Argyle International Airport, as “they go hand in hand”.

“I want us to treat Buccament nearly as if it is one of our government projects. The way we promote the Argyle International Airport, let’s do the same for Buccament. If they want to be using petty things and make them headlines, let us use the large things and make them headlines,” Francis said.

“They are twins. One can’t survive without the other.”

He also encouraged persons to consider the level of investment in the country and how much it has contributed to the local economy and the GDP of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

“When you get in there, you feel the quality of the investment,” Francis said, describing the resort, which also includes a full size, world quality football field, an eight-a-side synthetic football field, a tennis court system and cricket nets on synthetic grass.

“Fantastic looking operation, beautiful to the eye. First class, world class. This is what the fellows are investing their money in. This is the level of product that they are trying to sell for St Vincent and the Grenadines. When Argyle is finished, the guys will start to make real money, because they have a product, that I will say is almost second to none in any part of this region,” Francis said.

The ULP General Secretary said if one looks at the persons who are being critical of the project, some of them are “seriously connected” with the opposition New Democratic Party.

He said some of these people had previously had projects with the development, but had fallen out with them when it was discovered that they were overcharging the developers. These people, he said, were now using those “disagreements” to spur on the “petty things which are going on down there.”

“I have been a critic of certain things which have been done down there, but the overall picture, we cannot lose sight of the purpose, the intent of this investment, what it has done to St Vincent and the Grenadines,” he said.

Francis thanked CEO of Harlequin Dave Ames, the investors in the project and the management and encouraged persons to visit the project and speak with the staff and the contractors, as the majority of contractors are not having a problem with the developers.

“We must defend the Buccament investment, we must defend the Buccament investors, against all these rantings of very minute matters that we seem to want to make into headlines in St Vincent,” Francis said.