Why SLP ‘Nixed’ DSH.
A confidential letter from the former administration to a prospective investor in England almost a year ago is today turning out to be a subject of debate between the government and the opposition St. Lucia Labour Party.
Both parties made mention of the letter at separate press conferences Thursday. Prime Minister Allen Chastanet called it “an interesting letter” while Philip J. Pierre, SLP and parliamentary opposition leader, called it “a letter of comfort”.
The letter which was signed by former Prime Minister Dr. Kenny Anthony was recently leaked into the public domain.
Chastanet believes the letter is the reason why the SLP is “opposed” to the Desert Star Holdings (DSH) deal planned for Vieux Fort.
Chastanet says he will deal with theDr. Anthony Letter a special press conference.
“There was an alternative reason as to why the Labour Party chose not to proceed with the DSH project. It has a lot to do with the letter. Very interesting, a lot of things they are criticizing are the exact same things that they have done in the letter. So when you talk about the DSH project is too big for one person to give 700 acres they are proposing to give 1000 acres in the Vieux Fort area alone, plus they were talking about Louvet, Troumasse and Praslin,” Chastanet said.
However Pierre’s comments on the letter, made several hours before those made by Chastanet, did not refer to the 1000 acres being in Vieux Fort alone but rather spread throughout the south of the island from Praslin, to other parts including Soufriere.
Both he and Ernest Hilaire, the SLP’s spokesperson on investment, explained that the 1000 acres did not comprise one swath of land, compared, they said, to the 700 acres proposed in the DSH agreement, itself another leaked document, which is in the Vieux Fort area alone, the SLP calls it an annexation of Vieux Fort.
“I can confirm that the government of St. Lucia (SLP administration) was not in any arrangement, as an entity, to acquire or purchase lands. The government of St. Lucia as an entity was never in discussion with any entity to acquire or purchase lands for one dollar an acre. There was an investor who was given a letter of comfort, not an agreement that stated among other things that that investor would invest in the toxic area of Praslin Bay and would also go into manufacturing. He needed 1000 acres of land in the south of the country to build these (manufacturing) plants. The government never said it would acquire or purchase land for the investor,” Pierre said.
Such a letter, he said, is what governments write to prospective investors.
The letter in question dated February 9, 2016 was written to a Robert Ainsworth in Hertfordshire, England confirming his development plans for the Praslin Bay and Top O’ The Morne areas and for manufacturing in the country.
Dr. Anthony, in that letter suggested to Ainsworth how he could come into lands in the south to construct his manufacturing plants. The former Prime Minister suggested leasing or purchasing of those lands measuring approximately 1000 acres.
The letter suggested that the development would be int he region of us $800 million
Chastanet accuses the SLP of promising more incentives to Ainsworth compared to those he had signed with DSH.
Both Pierre and Hilaire shrugged off that argument saying that they have no problems with the incentives granted in the DSH agreement
“We are not against DSH as an investment, it’s a bad agreement,” Pierre said.
The SLP’s main grievance with the DSH agreement is the part dealing with the transfer of lands which states that the government agrees and undertakes to transfer the land required for the project for the purchased price to be US$60,000 to US$90,000 per acre and the lease price to be one United States dollar per acre per year in respect of a lease period of 99 years. Further that the government agrees and undertakes to pursue the acquisition of all privately owned parcels of land within the project site.
