RESURRECTION OF “THE RESIDENCE

St. George's, March 3, 2009 -- Our National Anthem admonishes us to “be proud of our heritage.” The Sentinel, however, is of the view that being proud is not sufficient; we must also be prepared to protect, preserve and where necessary enhance our heritage -- if, as custodians, we intend to pass it on to Grenadians yet unborn in as good, or in better shape than we inherited it.

There is no gainsaying that our GRAND ANSE BEACH is one of our major natural heritages, whose value to our Grenadian way of life and identity, as our premier recreational site may be unsurpassed.

"So why?" it may be asked, should a resident Grenadian Architect join with a foreign Real Estate Speculator called Parc. Investment Group (PIC) who are hell bent on despoiling one of our major natural assets by proposing to build a humongous hotel in a contrived MIAMI BEACH scenario on the site of the old Silver Sands hotel area which goes under the name of the RESIDENCE .

Just over a year, ago readers who are vigilant on matters of this nature would recall the Sentinel article under the caption “ANOTHER OF OUR NATURAL TREASURE IN THE HANDS of Real Estate Speculators.”  Since then, the hue and cry of Heritage and environmental organisations against this development apparently sent PIC underground and nothing more was heard of them until their recent resurrection when they began to make approaches to the new administration, albeit in a revised format.

A quote from the Sentinel article of FEBRUARY 18th, 2008 is still applicable; “Grenada is an Island paradise of approximately 100 thousand people which is about the size of a small township in North America; why is it therefore that in the quest to provide jobs we have to destroy our natural assets”?

“Three or four well conceived projects spread over the island with genuine developers- Grenadians entrepreneurs included, could solve our unemployment problem. What we have instead -- in the absence of a well thought-out national Physical & Economic Development Plan setting out Grenada’s vision of how its development should proceed -- are speculators who are permitted to use Grenada as a real estate bonanza (echoes of Port Louis and Mt. Hartman) for creating wealth -- NOT FOR GRENADIANS; and in so doing, acquire or is it given, the best of our natural assets thereby destroying our uniqueness as an island territory of unsurpassed beauty, and for which short sightedness we would soon rue the day”.

The above quotation from the Sentinel was written just over a year ago during the reign of the previous government.  It is hoped that with a new, and if we might add a more “enlightened” administration, we would be able to distinguish between the woods from the tree -- since, after all – it was the prestigeous Organisation of American States (OAS), which in 1998 or thereabout undertook a study for the Government of Grenada on the status of Grand Anse Beach and pronounced most emphatically that NO FUTHER DEVELOPMENT should  be allowed (undertaken) on Grand Anse beach since it had reached its maximum carrying capacity. It is aberrations such as these which seek to disrupt the natural order of occurrence which can result in creating chaos within a society.

As the old adage goes, let us not be “Penny wise and pound foolish”- the importance and significance of our environment and its holistic and all encompassing benefits to our very sustenance and existence are too important and life threatening given our current knowledge of climate change, global warming and rising sea levels to be exchanged for the  proverbial bowl of pottage.