Sir James: I am proud of Ottley Hall Marina and Shipyard project

Former prime minister Sir James Mitchell says that he proud of the Ottley Hall Marina and Shipyard project.{{more}}

“I am not ashamed of it and if anybody in my party is ashamed of it, I am sorry for them,” he said on Sunday, while appearing on IKTV on the programme “Unrendered”.

The “failed shipyard project”, which is the subject of a Commission of Inquiry set up in 2003, in 1996 was valued at just under EC$50 million, but the government of St Vincent and the Grenadines owed EC$200 million for it at that time.

Despite the ongoing inquiry, the marina and shipyard has been attracting business for several years now.

Mitchell, therefore, threw out a challenge to Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves, saying there will be more boats coming in to the Ottley Hall Marina than there will be planes at the international airport, now under construction at Argyle.

“Let time tell us how things evolve; I wish you well; I am not going to say anything derogatory about it (the airport at Argyle),” Mitchell said.

When contacted on Monday, chairman of the board of the Ottley Hall Marina and Shipyard Ken Boyea told SEARCHLIGHT that he too had a lot of faith in the project.

“I think the Ottley Hall project is a good project and it could be a profitable project,” Boyea explained.

He said the shipyard had been there for a long time and needed some repairs, but the new board will be taking a holistic approach.

The existing board took over only a few years ago, he said, and was in the process of preparing a document, as they are seeking a partner in the endeavour.

But Boyea said that he agreed that the project could be profitable, not only financially, but in terms of being able to offer the young people opportunities in boat repair and other technical skills.

“Unfortunately it wasn’t finished, but we have a good board and I believe that in a couple of years, Sir James would see it finished to the point that he would want to have seen it finished,” Boyea told SEARCHLIGHT.

In terms of its financial standing, the chairman said that he had been able to influence a Trinidadian tug company to have their vessels serviced at the marina and there has been some business from local boats.

He however said that in about three to four months time, the shipyard would be in a position to begin taking in quality yachts, but for now, they would be focusing in on the repairs that needed to be done.

A check at the Commercial and Intellectual Property Office yesterday for financial statements of the shipyard project turned up nothing, as no annual returns had been filed by the company.

Since the commencement of the inquiry into Ottley Hall in 2003, there have been several delays, due largely to legal challenges in the court up to the level of the Privy Council.

The Ottley Hall Project had been hailed by the Sir James Mitchell administration as one of its flagship tourism projects. The government of St Vincent and the Grenadines had guaranteed a loan of EC$135 million made by a German bank West LB to Caribbean Chartered and Yacht Yard Holdings Ltd (CCYY), the company that was developing the project.

In 2007, St Vincent and the Grenadines received debt forgiveness for the project to the tune of EC$150 million, leaving the country with EC$16.2 million to pay. (DD)