The Argyle Airport – A Bold Endeavour

Felix Rohatyn is the expert who, several years ago, devised the measures that rescued New York when that city was in deep financial crisis. He has now written a book -’Bold Endeavors’. In it Mr Rohatyn contends that despite America being regarded as the bastion of capitalism it was the Government which undertook many of the programmes that helped to make that country what it is today. To prove his case he examines ten projects.{{more}}

They include: 1. The Louisiana Purchase, the scheme under which the US Government bought 828,000 square miles of land from the French Government, 2. The Erie Canal, 3. The Transcontinental Railroad, 4. The Land Grant Colleges (State Universities), 5. The Homestead Act, 6. The Panama Canal, 7. The Rural Electrification Administration, 8. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation, 9. The G.I.Bill, 10. The Interstate Highway System.

Several issues are clear from Mr Rohatyn’s arguments. Firstly many of the programmes were in the field of transportation and education. Secondly the projects encountered not merely stiff but protracted opposition and as a result many years elapsed between their conception and completion. Finally and crucially, it took leadership that was at the same time visionary, courageous and prepared to take bold initiatives. Indeed the Presidents who undertook many of them; Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Franklyn Roosevelt rank among the greatest in that country’s history.

SVG has not been without similar phenomena in its own history. The one that comes immediately to mind is The National Provident Fund (NPF) / National Insurance Service (NIS). When Milton Cato decided to set up the NPF which evolved into the NIS he met a great deal of opposition. The planter class was certain that such a scheme would kill the agriculture sector stone dead and so destroy the economy. In direct contravention of the Civil Service Regulations, one public servant even went on a political platform not merely to denounce the scheme but to lambast other civil servants who were supporting the project.

We are now experiencing a similar reaction from certain quarters with the airport project. Undoubtedly, it is the largest and boldest of any Government initiative ever undertaken in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Indeed it can be argued that a jet airport is as critical to a small island as were canals, the Transcontinental Railway and the Interstate Highway System to the USA.

Three distinct types of benefit are being derived from the establishment of the airport. First, there is the employment provided by its construction. This includes the jobs that arise from the building of the airport itself and also the two bypass roads, one from Mt. Pleasant to Peruvian Vale and the other from Stubbs to Rawacou and beyond. Then there are the construction jobs created by the home building that resulted from relocating residents from Argyle to Harmony Hall, Diamond and Carapan. Buccama would not have been built except in anticipation of the airport so the jobs there too must be added. All this employment could not have come at a better time. The construction of the airport and related projects are just the type of stimulus package that countries the world over are pursuing in these times of recession.

The second type of benefit is the physical changes the airport is making to our island. The Mt Pleasant/Peruvian Vale road has made land in the areas more accessible for housing and agriculture. It also means we no longer have to worry about when the sea will overrun the old road at Argyle as it has long threatened to do. If we had had a physical plan for the island from the very outset, agriculture and airports would have been on the flat land and homes on the hill sides with their magnificent views and cooling breezes. It is too late to rejig the whole island but the airport at Argyle and the residential area of Harmony Hall do follow this pattern.

Another aspect of physical change to note relates to Kingstown. Our capital city is now almost completely built up. Space will have to be found else where to expand. The logical place for such expansion is Arnos Vale. In other words the construction of the Airport at Argyle will release the land on which the present airport at Arnos Vale now stands, for the expansion of Kingstown. Obviously old Kingstown and the new Kingstown will have to be better linked than they are now. If they are linked by a tunnel through Cane Garden, this will relieve the congestion already being experienced in Kingstown and suburbs as vehicular traffic increases inexorably.

The third type of benefit is the one we have all been anticipating – the impact the Argyle airport will have on agriculture, tourism and the Diaspora.

In the circumstances it is difficult to understand why anyone should be against the construction of the airport. If St Kitts, Grenada and St. Lucia are finding it possible to maintain their jet airports, why shouldn’t we? We are not Willie-the-Worst.

Government has set up a Contributory Fund at the NCB – Account Number 200884 through which donations can be made to help finance the airport. The money raised through the Contributory Fund will not make or break the Airport Project. It will however indicate that there are Vincentians and others who have the vision to see that their Government is doing the right thing and are willing to support the project in whatever little way they can. The question is not whether you are ULP or NDP but whether the airport is in the best interest of the country.