Loan For Airport Development Project Approved

The 14th Legislative Council of the Virgin Islands has approved the borrowing of $19,631,000 from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) for the purpose of financing the Beef Island International Airport Expansion Project.

Chief Minister and Minister of Finance the Honourable Ralph T. O'Neal brought the motion during the 9th Sitting of the 1st Session of the House, held on Friday March 31st. The government intends to borrow $35M of the total expected cost of the project ($53.8M). The Legislative Council has already approved this borrowing, by Resolution No.14 of 1997. The Caribbean Development Bank has agreed to provide the government with a sum not exceeding $19,631,000 to be applied towards the project, at the rate of 6.68% interest per annum, to be repaid in approximately 48 equal quarterly instalments, commencing five years after the first disbursement. "We have gone through this already and this is only to satisfy the requirements of the Caribbean Development Bank," Chief Minister O'Neal explained. He noted that in our system, while this has been proposed and will come later, we do not yet have to pass legislation to borrow money. "But we must have a resolution of the Legislative Council, because the Council is first and foremost responsible for the debt of the country." The Chief Minister noted that the territory must also get the approval of the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary, because in the event the territory cannot repay the debt, England is ultimately responsible. "But Mr. Speaker, in all our forecasting and in all our input and output analysis and all our studies, we are convinced that providing things stay as they are, the projections tell us that we'll be in a position to finance the debt," he stated. He said Honourable Members would remember from their study of the 2000 Budget, that provision has already been made in those estimates for the repayment of this loan and the several others that will be made for the airport project.

The Finance Minister said there is provision for the repayment of the Airport Feasibility Study - $33,000, the Barclays Bank loan - $50,000, the interest for the new airport terminal - $302,000 under one subhead and $175,000 under another and under the new airport runway (CDB) - $312,500. "So, Mr. Speaker, as I said, we have covered a lot of ground already in this House about the airport; Honourable Members have had the opportunity to see the various plans and various projections put forward by the different experts and we know that we had the ground-breaking ceremony for the terminal building and work is going ahead and now we want to get things in order to begin the airport expansion," he added.

Chief Minister O'Neal said this is most important so that the territory could meet the standards of the Civil Aeronautics Aviation Board and the Federal Aviation Authority for the AFR2 to fly safely into the Beef Island Airport. He went on to note that the BVI is a founding member of the Caribbean Development Bank and government is grateful that the CDB has that confidence in the territory that they are prepared to advance this money. "In fact, Mr. Speaker, the Caribbean Development Bank is most pleased with the performance of the British Virgin Islands, as they said we are one of the borrowers who pay their debts on time and they are very pleased to be doing business with us," Hon. O'Neal reported. Members of the Opposition National Democratic Party voted in support of the motion. They indicated that they have no reason to interfere with the project, but voiced several concerns. Hon. Ronnie Skelton claimed to not know the total cost officially budgeted for the Airport Project.

Dr. the Hon. Kedrick Pickering raised the issue of some "grave omissions" that took place in the planning phase of the project, namely consideration for the re-siting of the Fire Station and that of the Control Tower. He also touched on the public announcement by Project Manager Stuart Logan that the project was to be delayed by two months and wondered at what cost. The Member for the 7th District also raised concerns about the environmental management of this project, especially regarding the huge pile of dirt that continues to grow, the destruction of the salt ponds, mangroves and other fauna in the immediate area and the destruction of the lignum vitae trees.

In wrapping up debate on the motion, Chief Minister Hon. R.T. O'Neal reiterated his position that a Member of the House is first and foremost an elected Representative of the people and has a right to know. "What I propose to do Mr. Speaker, is that I think it is time that all the Members of Council should meet and we should have all the experts there - the Financial Secretary, the Director of Planning, the Acting Director of Works, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Works and Communications and we should have the Airport Development Engineer there and we can go over all the various plans, schemes, financial aspects of the scheme and so on," he suggested.

On the question of the environment, Hon. O'Neal said government spent a lot of time discussing this subject in and out of Executive Council. "I don't know how many lignum vitae trees were destroyed, but what struck me was that the cedar tree bears the national flower of this country and I understand a lot of cedar trees were destroyed and I never heard one voice raised in objection," he declared. The Chief Minister suggested that perhaps government should appoint an Officer in government to be responsible for the environmental aspects of the projects, "because there will be many."