OPINION: Did you or Milo tell them comrade?
By Nathan ‘Jolly’ Green. July 23, 2020.
Have Sandals been told the truth about Buccament Bay Resort? I ask the question because Ralph Gonsalves may just have forgot. Nothing to do with mendaciousness although that did cross my mind. So, did you tell them, comrade?
Have Sandals been warned that Buccament Bay Resort sits on an ancient and historic flood plain which has flooded several times in the memory of man? It last severely flooded in December 2013 when several employees of Buccament Bay Resort, then being operated by Harlequin, drowned. Also, several villagers perished in the flooding leaving the whole nation aghast.
There is no way to know when it will flood again, today, tomorrow, next week, next year, in ten years? There is absolutely no way of knowing and no way to prewarn when the flash flood will occur, night or day. If it happens again, or more positively when it happens again, because it will, as it has done for millions of years, people could die again. Perhaps once again when least expected guests and employees will perish.
Some rock filled gabions placed, and river defence have been carried out since the last flood. But that is, in my opinion, inadequate in containing the ferocity of the Buccament river flooding when it occurs, more so if a sea-surge takes place at the same time.
I am not even sure Sandals can insure against such a risk seeing it is beyond being a risk and is an actual reoccurring event waiting for when next to happen.
The Buccament flooding is classified in law as a 100-year event. Which does not mean it will only happen every 100 years. It means that it is an event that will occur once in every 100 big cloud bursts or storms. If you had a hundred of those in a day, there are probabilities that such flooding will occur. If it happens in a week, then once a week, if it occurs in a year once a year etc. A 100-year flood is a flood event that has a 1 in 100 chance (1% probability) of being equalled or exceeded in any given year. A common misunderstanding is that a 100-year flood is likely to occur only once in 100 years. There is approximately a 63.4% chance of one or more 100-year floods occurring in any 100 years.
The 100-year flood is also referred to as the 1% flood since its annual exceedance probability is 1%. For coastal or lake flooding, the 100-year flood is generally expressed as a flood elevation or depth and may include wave effects. For river systems, the 100-year flood is usually shown as a flowrate. Based on the expected 100-year flood flow rate, the flood water level can be mapped as an area of inundation. Areas such as Buccament which adjoin the coast can also be flooded by combinations of the tide, storm surge, and waves. So, in the case of Buccament, there is not just the probability of the flood plain being inundated by water from the river and extreme runoff from the surrounding mountain arena. But also, from inundation by sea surge, if both happened simultaneously, the whole resort would be swept into the sea.
The current villas are built without foundations; they are built on concrete slabs. Such construction in a flood plain and sea surge area is bad engineering because, in such environments, slabs and villas can quite simply float away. The initial planning before construction called for the raising of the land by ten feet, pilings, and footings for the villa bases. But Harlequin decided to cut costs at the expense of safety and security and abandoned that engineering necessity. So basically, the structures are unsafe for habitation in the floodplain and sea surge area that Buccament is in.
So I hope that Sandals have appropriately been made aware of the problems at Buccament, if not they are put on notice by this letter/article, that now knowing about the risks they will be fully responsible for claims against them at some time in the future. It will not be classed as an act of God but an unpreventable tragedy which they were warned about.
I also at this time enquire if the Court orders in favour of certain people who brought some of the villas, giving them priority payment in full of costs and interest at the time of resale have been satisfied? I also enquire how the PM and the government can enter a contract of sale when the property is in the hands of a receiver/liquidator/administrator legally appointed by the court?
I am not sure precisely what kind of deal has been signed, I suspect it is an MOU.
The legality of sale seems to have been taken care of; this was published after I wrote this letter
[Did you mention compulsory purchase comrade, mmh?]
Sandals needs to be very aware that they for the sake of their investor and shareholder get proper surveying carried out, and an accurate report on the flood-plain aspect before they conclude any deal. It is most unfortunate that Harlequin never took those precautions, so they were unaware of the flood plain aspect until it flooded, and several employees were drowned in the raging torrent.
Sandals will have an international airport in the equation; Harlequin only had the promise which never happened in their time. Harlequin would have had a chance of success if they had the airport operational.
To finish, I would like to enquire if PM Dr Ralph E Gonsalves wife, Mrs Eloise Gonsalves will have a contract to carry out the interior design and furnishings of all, or some of the Villas when they are finished as she had with Harlequin.
Also, just one more request, I must ask if the comrades’ cousin, Senator Julian Francis, will be acting as Mr Fixit for Sandals as he was for Harlequin. He invited people to go to him if they needed help with Harlequin; it is recorded in several news stories.
Oh! Something else, will the ex-Harlequin employees get the wages and severance they did not get from Harlequin? You have made no mention of this, please tell us their status for payment. Is there any provision for those workers that worked for months without pay, only to be dumped with no severance?
Here are a few useful articles on the matter, there are over a thousand if you check out your search engines.
https://www.iwnsvg.com/2014/04/26/were-buccament-flood-deaths-murder-by-governmental-neglect/
https://www.tropicalconnections.co.uk/neglect-dereliction-duty/
Harlequin denied they built on a flood plain, but that denial is worthless because it is a fact that they did. Perhaps they did not knowingly build on a flood plain, because they were probably never told or warned, or their now-deceased lawyer never did any searches. But the fact is that they did build on a flood plain, and the resort remains on a flood plain, and always will.
END
DISCLAMER: The opinion, belief and viewpoint expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinion, belief and viewpoint of iNews Cayman/ieyenews.com or official policies of iNews Cayman/ieyenews.com
My dear Nathan ‘Jolly’ Green, what one is most suspicious of here my dear, is that this disclosure of a signed agreement between the Gonsalves and Sandals, may well be just yet more deceptive “ELECTIONEERING SPIN” on the part of the Gonsalves family regime, all designed and timed for the forthcoming General Election. Their inclination for deception at times like these are well known.
Knowing how this family administration is inclined to double speaks, especially at election time, surely what is required here by Vincentians is indeed a FULL STATEMENT to Parliament, thereby outlining a thoroughly full disclosures of facts as to what is the nature of any signed agreement that is said to have been signed between the the Gonsalves and Sandals. .
Moreover, the elephant in the room is noted by this fact, the government cannot sell what it does not own. https://www.iwnsvg.com/2020/07/24/video-farmer-makes-another-land-stand/ therefore, it is even more imperative for the Gonsalves to make a full statement to Parliament, thus setting out clearly, the entire full details of the contract, otherwise what we will have there, is just “wishes and intent” by both parties, and such intent is just that, intent, just future likelihood, in the event of all things being equal.
With their dark and troubled past, Vincentians like so many Caribbean people ought to be less trusting of this Gonsalves family who are well known for their gross deceptive ways.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-8554635/Dark-history-transatlanic-slavery-traced-DNA-study.html
Moreover Vincentians ought to remember too this quote from that memorable film by Fannie Flagg, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe “Are you a politician or does lying just run in your family?” Remember what Ralph Gonsalves told us about himself and lying? Watch the space very good my dear, for once the election is all over, one will hear the usual platitudes from them!
And as Daniel Patrick Moynihan, that former US politician once put it “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” So let the Parliament just sift out the wishful intentions of Sandals from the factual realities as are now real. The same should be done before this forthcoming election. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0bl3CaHZnQ
Dear James, If what he says is true, or even part true, the only way to acquire the whole lot would be through The Compulsory Land and Property Acquisition Act.
But to use the Act for this purpose is illegal, the Act is designed to acquire land for government use like road widening or building a government owned airport, or government facility of some kind. It should not ever be used to acquire the property to sell on to a private resort operator. He thinks by declaring the government took no profit excuses him of doing this in this way, it does not.
Harlequin were promised an international airport which was being built by the Cubans at Argyle. It was a three year project which took the Cubans nine years to complete. During the time when Harlequin were told it would finish they purchased three aircraft to fly their own clients into SVG and their own resort. Then the lies started and each year they were told the airport would finish by years end, many years end. Eventually they gave up the airline idea and resold the aircraft.