St. Vincent [Fwd: Canouan Residents Complain: Is this and eco-resort]

"Jayne Musumba (by way of Bruce Potter)" wrote:
>
> [This is the resort where CARICOM Heads of State will meet next month.]
>
> Residents Complain Grievances Remain Unsettled
>
> 15 June, 2000
>
> KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent - Residents on the southern St. Vincent
> island of Canouan in the Grenadines are still awaiting word from
> Prime Minister, Sir James Mitchell concerning grievances they
> have with a multi-million tourism development. "The situation
> remains the same, nothing has changed," said Terry Bynoe
> president of the Canouan Progressive Movement, an organisation
> purportedly representing residents on the tiny island.
>
> Bynoe said members of the group would be meeting later in the
> week to decide how to proceed with resolution of the problems
> they have with the management of the tourism development project,
> site for the July 2-5 CARICOM Heads of Government Conference.
>
> Residents there are upset over access through the resort's leased
> property to go to beaches to the north of the island and they
> wrote to the Prime Minister late last month asking that he meets
> to discuss a list of outstanding grievances.
>
> Bynoe said although Sir James was on the island last weekend
> where a regatta was taking place, he did not meet with the group
> nor has he acknowledged receipt of their letter.
>
> The group has threatened to protest during the CARICOM meeting to
> draw attention to the situation of residents which they have
> likened to South Africa during its apartheid years.
>
> Health Minister Joseph "Burns" Bonadie, who was assigned cabinet
> responsibility for Canouan, has dismissed any threat of protest
> action. "I don't really envisage any demonstrations during the
> Heads of Government conference," Bonadie told journalists who
> journeyed to Canouan for the Whitsuntide Regatta. "We had a
> meeting with the (Canouan) Progressive Organisation a few weeks
> ago and a number of the areas that they raised we have resolved
> those areas, they have since written another letter asking for
> some clarification but I think most of the touching issues we
> have already resolved them and I don't personally envisage any
> problems in relation to the Heads of Government Conference."
>
> CARICOM Secretary-General Edwin Carrington visited the island
> just over a week ago with the Prime Minister and other CARICOM
> and government officials to get a first hand view of the
> conference venue and facilities and to determine what else may be
> needed.
>
> Bonadie said they are concentrating on the upcoming meeting which
> is expected to provide an economic boon to the resort which
> officially opened to business late last year and to the island
> generally. About 300 people are expected to fly into Canouan for
> the conference. "We've been able to ensure that all the local
> guest houses are filled and then, of course the resort is going
> to be filled, the Tamarind Beach Hotel (and) the Canouan Beach
> Hotel - and we have even gone over now into private homes because
> of the impact that it is going to have," Bonadie stated.
>
> SOURCE: St. Vincent & the Grenadines Herald
>
>
Received on Sun Jun 18 17:03:00 2000