It is difficult for Government, the people of Anguilla or anyone else concerned with the general economic wellbeing of the island, to adopt a wait-and see stance in the face of the continued closure of the Flag Project and not to really inquire into what the true situation is. The coming meeting on Monday, February 23, involving the Government, the financiers and developers of the project and representatives of the owners of the residences, is not only timely but absolutely necessary and should have taken place long ago.

The closure, uncertainties surrounding the property over the past months and the resultant laying off of all levels and categories of workers, local, regional and international, have all been a harrowing and perhaps embarrassing experience for Anguilla which has been boasting about having the largest tourism project in the region. There can be no understanding of, or solution to, a festering problem unless it is tackled head-on and all the parties involved come together to address it and therein lies the importance of the planned meeting.

While Anguilla has been suffering very badly from the closure of the project, it must have also been a source of much discomfort to the home-owners. It is a pity that, according to government sources, these persons were led to request the upcoming meeting to know what is happening at the project. With the Government on behalf of the people of the island owning a substantial amount of the land on which the property sits, there was a need for our leaders to be proactive in calling the meeting themselves thus sparing the home-owners the trouble and perhaps discomfort to initiate the process.

Another concerned group ought to be the number of persons and businesses on the island whom the Chief Minister says are owed some 16 million Eastern Caribbean dollars by the project for services rendered. No country or Government likes to have uncompleted projects or “white elephants” on their shores for the obvious reason that they do not present a good impression and no one benefits from the situation. These are extremely difficult financial and economic times and therefore not a period to have something that would be a money-making entity to be inoperable.

One way or the other it is believed that next week’s meeting will present some real answers to the problem and perhaps a ray of hope as to how and when the project may move forward. Certainly, a project of that magnitude, and the potential it holds for Anguilla’s tourism, demands some quick and decisive action.

| Printer-friendly page | Send this article to a friend |

World News