We will fix Ottley Hall Marina, says Dr Godwin Friday

The opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) plans to refurbish the Ottley Hall Marina and Shipyard once elected to office in the upcoming general elections.

The shipyard was built under the Sir James Mitchell administration as part of the then government’s plans to diversify the economy around bananas; but it has been described by some as a failed project. The project was the subject of a Commission of Inquiry in 2003 as in 1996, it was valued at just under EC$50 million, but the government of St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) owed EC$200 million to the institutions which financed the project. No corruption was found to have occurred.

Leader of the NDP, Dr Godwin Friday, told listeners on a Facebook live question and answer programme on July 24, 2025 that his party would revive the Ottley Hall Marina and Shipyard in an effort to provide jobs.

He said the shipyard at Ottley Hall was conceived by the James Mitchell administration and was operating for a time, not at its full capacity, because it wasn’t quite completed.

Dr Friday said when the present administration was in opposition, they decried the idea of the shipyard and when they took over the reigns of government, for the first several years, their primary focus was to try to prove that Sir James and other members of the NDP administration, were liable or accountable for something fraudulent.

“Well, that was dismissed. It was thrown out by the Privy Council, so you would figure, okay, that is over so now they will build the thing up and make it work the way it was supposed to, because there’s nothing wrong with the idea and the way in which it [was] conceived.

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