2 weeks to complain

Tue, Aug 10, 2010

Editor: The Bequia Blue development plan at Saint Hilaire, Bequia, is seeking approval, I am told, with only two weeks to complain about its environmental impact on Friendship Bay. There will be a petition circulating to try and bring the Planning Commission to its senses, but this letter is written as a plea for sanity.{{more}}

The development envisages the usual villas (which we have recently seen fail at Adams Bay), but there is much more: a breakwater built into the Atlantic Ocean, a marina for mega yachts (we have heard that one before, too), luxury hotel, spa, etc. The website states on page 5: The breakwater/marina will engender dredging, minimizing sea bed damage.” How can you minimize damage to a living reef by dredging it? It goes on to state:” the positive effects in the bay will engender calmer anchorages and most probably additional sand retention, creating deeper beaches.” This is pure fantasy! It is just as likely to make Friendship Bay a fetid swamp and erode the beach to bare stone.

I would like to see a thorough environmental impact study as would all the residents of Bequia, done by an independent agency (not in the pocket of Bequia Blue). And they must also consider that the only road to bring in the supplies to this mega resort snakes through miles of local neighborhoods with both local and foreign homes. These roads were not designed or built for this kind of traffic; and the number of trucks needed to bring supplies would ensure that no one along the Friendship road could breathe fresh air for many years. As for the plan’s overall economic viability and the chance that the project could start and never be finished, leaving us in worse shape, we’ve seen that happen before, too. The Friendship Bay Hotel is closed, as is the Plantation House, they were Bequia’s two most expensive resorts. Why aren’t the investors of Bequia Blue interested in buying and running one of these? We are tired of our island being used as a Laundromat; we want tourism but not at the expense of what makes Bequia special.

Cynical Citizen