Citing the DLP’s failure to keep its Manifesto promise on which it got elected in 2000, to construct an international airport, and a more recent statement of denial put out by the Chinese Embassy in Dominica, 2013, distancing itself from a false impression conveyed by Mr Skerrit to Dominicans, that on Dec 7th he had signed an agreement under which the Govt. of China would be financing an International Airport in Dominica, the Dominica’s United Workers Party (UWP) has accused the Dominica Labour Party (DLP) Government of trying to “fool” the Dominican voters when it comes to the construction of any International Airport. Architect and Senior Urban and Rural Planner, Isaac Baptiste, UWP Candidate for the Castle Bruce Constituency, made the accusation while speaking at the UWP Monday morning Press Conference, saying that the DLP Manifesto claim since 2000, that their party had identified a site that met the requirements for an international airport, that they had prepared preliminary plans for an 8000-foot runway, and that there were commitments for a marina and three hotels with 2000 rooms that would see the creation of 3000 jobs, have all been proven to be false election gimmicks by the Labour Party. In further support of his claim, Baptiste quoted the Chinese Embassy in a the Dominica News Online (DNO), News report of 7th “The Chinese Embassy in the Commonwealth of Dominica would like to clarify that the widely-reported US$300 million MOU, including the construction of a hotel, a hospital and an airport by using concessionary loans from the Chinese Government, was not signed by the Chinese Government.” Citing further moves to fool the people, Baptiste said that in May of this year, Skerrit headed a three-man delegation to the Republic of China, under the guise that he had secured funding to begin construction of the airport immediately. Six months later, said Baptiste, Skerrit has not even reported to the people, the results of his trip. 2013, as saying: Referring to a planned ceremony later this month, to rename the Melville Hall Airport, the Urban and Rural Planner contended, “By renaming the Melville Hall Airport the Douglas-Charles airport, Skerrit is saying to Rosie and Pierre Charles supporters, that if he were to get back in power, he would expect Melville Hall to remain as Dominica’s main airport. In so doing, he has inadvertently confirmed that the Skerrit Labour Party cannot and will never build Dominica an international airport.” Rosie Douglas and Pierre Charles were former leaders of the DLP, who became Prime Ministers of Dominica. Many observers see Mr Skerrit’s move as a political gimmick, to try to win back the support he has lost from Laborites who supported the former leaders, Rosie Douglas and Pierre Charles. According to Baptiste, Prime Minister Skerrit’s call to the people to join him in celebrating “night landing” at Melville hall, is a call to celebrate “the failure of the Skerrit’s administration”, since Mr.Skerrit’s reverted to night landing at the Melville Hall Airport as a “fall back” after his “failure to build an international airport as promised”. Instead of continuing with the outstanding work began by the United Workers Party towards construction of an International Airport, this wasteful and incompetent Roosevelt Skerrit led DLP administration chose to provide night landing at Melville Hall, an airport that has long been determined by all independent thinking international airport development experts to be unsuitable for further expansion. Sadly, after spending over $140 million on the project, night landing at Melville Hall has not solved Dominica’s air access problem. UWP firmly commits to building the International Airport. According to Baptiste, the UWP is firmly committed to the construction of the International Airport, and fully confident of the UWP Team Dominica’s ability to deliver on its promise of an International Airport. Said Baptiste, “We The United Workers Party Team Dominica reassure you the Dominican public here and abroad, and our international investment partners, that a major pillar of the UWP Team Dominica Government’s plans to grow the Economy by 5-7%, and create 5000 new sustainable jobs in the first three years, will be the development of comprehensive, competitive, modernized, sea and air access to Dominica, to include… Construction of the international airport project develop by the United Workers Party since 2000 … Facilitating establishment of a Dominica based airline …and … establishment andexpansion of high speed ferry services to Dominica.” Baptiste went on to outline the work done by the UWP in its short four and a half years, towards the construction of the international airport, saying that, unlike the DLP’s hesitant approach, the UWP Government had long ago developed advanced and comprehensive plans for an international airport. The party’s government had prepared detailed designs for construction of the facility. A feasibility study had been done and 448 acres of land had been purchased from 161 land owners between Wesley and Woodford Hill for runway and airside facilities construction. Further, the UWP Government had bought, by private treaty, the Londonderry Estate for hotel development and relocation of farmers who would have been displaced by the project. He said by the time the UWP Government left office, it had successfully negotiated and left behind over $110m in grants and soft loans from the EU and Taiwan for construction of an international airport. Additionally, reputable international financiers and developers such as the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Geest Industries and Four Seasons Hotel had given firm commitments to construct high end hotels and related tourism development projects to coincide with commissioning of an international airport. Plans were developed for the construction of the Jungle Bay Hotel, Rosalie Bay Hotel and the Woodford Hill Beach Hotel as well as the Cabrits Resort. He noted that the Douglas family — the owners of the approximately 1000-acre Hampstead Estate — were pursuing the development of the estate into a tourism resort, dependent on the international airport. Baptiste chided Skerrit for ignoring and disrespecting the supporters of Rosie Douglas and Pierre Charles referred to Skerrit’s move to rename the airport in the hope of wooing back supporters of Rosie Douglas and Pierre Charles whom he has alienated since taking office, as, “At best, [it] seems to be the desperate action of a drowning Prime Minister grasping at straws, at worst the actions of a political traitor,” Baptiste opined. He urged citizens to consider Mr. Skerrit’s renaming exercise as nothing more than an empty political gimmick, and to dismiss any further promise by Mr Skerrit to build International airport with the contempt that it deserves.
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 13:43:10 +0000
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