Thursday, July 26, 2012 | | bvibeacon.com | 50 centsThe light that comes from wisdom never goes out.

INSIDEBeacon Business..........................18

Vol. 28 No. 50 • 2 sections, 60 pages

Road Town, Tortola,

British Virgin Islands

© 2012, The BVI BEACON

Experts: Direct flightsnot a sure thingBy JASON SMITHjsmith@bvibeacon.com

Five scale model passenger air-planes sit in a neatly arranged rowabove Denniston Fraser’s desk atthe BVI Airports Authority. Onlyone of the models’ life-size coun-terparts currently flies here.

Three of the models representwide-body jets like the Boeing-767 that won’t be flying to theVirgin Islands anytime soon. Amuch larger version of anothermodel, LIAT’s 50-passenger tur-boprop DHC-8, takes off severaltimes a day from the 4,350-foot

Questionsremain aboutEIS runway extension

SPECIAL REPORT: AIRPORT PART 1

Runway see page 30

New labourpoliciesunveiled at HOAStamp duty report tabledBy CHRYSTALL KANYUCKckanyuck@bvibeacon.com

Among other business during aTuesday sitting of the House ofAssembly, legislators explainedplanned changes to labour policy,tabled the 2010 stamp duty re-port, amended two laws, chastisedthe media for “reckless” reporting,and chose a territorial song anddress. They are to continue theirsitting today.

Deputy Premier Dr. KedrickPickering, who is also the ministerof natural resources and labour,

Leatherbacks monitoredBy TODD VANSICKLEtvansickle@bvibeacon.com

As a boy Austin Freeman went with hisgrandfather to kill leatherback turtles for

meat and oil.“When trunk season come it had me ex-

cited. Even if we don’t catch, I still felt goodbecause I just liked to see them,” Mr. Free-man said. “It fascinated me.”

Nowadays Mr. Freeman, a senior BVI Cus-toms officer who is almost 50, spends his freetime recording and protecting the endangeredanimals that nest along the shores of Tortola.

Although he has been a volunteer withthe Conservation and Fisheries Department

for more than 20 years, he still struggles toconvince some people that he is protectingthe leatherbacks and not harming them.

According to Mr. Freeman, leatherbackhunting was a “tradition” in the Virgin Is-lands, but it is now fading away with hunterslike Mr. Freeman’s grandfather, who died inthe 1970s. They were known as “trunkers,” re-portedly because the Danes claimed the turtleresembled a large leather trunk. In manycases, beaches took on the name as well.

The oil that trunkers collected from theturtles was used for home remedies forasthma and other ailments and would sell for$35 to $200 a bottle, Mr. Freeman said. Themeat and eggs were eaten.

In the 1960s, Mr. Freeman rememberstrunkers showing off their catch at Josiahs Bay

to schoolchildren during a picnic-style settingwhere turtles would “provide plenty of food.”

“We used to catch it for medicine andfood, and now we are trying to protect it formy grandchildren so that [leatherbacks] don’tbecome extinct,” Mr. Freeman said.

In 1989 a moratorium on killing theleatherbacks was put into effect by the Ministryof Natural Resources and Labour. Around thesame time, Mr. Freeman started volunteeringwith the CFD, tagging nesting leatherbacks.

Currently only three people — Mr. Free-man and CFD officers Joel Dore and GaryFrett — tag the leatherbacks in the VI, ac-cording to Mr. Dore. The three men are theonly ones who officially monitor Tortola’s

From trunker to tagger

Photo: TODD VANSICKLEJosé Santiago replaces a coloured light bulb on the Ferris wheel on Tuesday afternoon atthe Festival Village Grounds. The ride is one of nine attractions that Coney Island offi-cials were preparing for the opening of this year’s Claudette “Boopie” Smith Festival Vil-lage slated for today. See story on page 16.

FESTIVAL TIME

Leatherback see page 36

HOA see page 28

INSIDE:

Festival ScheduleWeekend & Culture

— page 4

runway located a few hundred feetoutside Mr. Fraser’s office at theTerrance B. Lettsome Interna-tional Airport.

But it’s the plane shown in thefifth model, a miniature of the189-passenger Boeing 737-800,that the BVIAA managing direc-tor and other officials hope willmake frequent trips between themainland United States and theVI in the coming years.

Through statements in theHouse of Assembly, Deputy Pre-mier Dr. Kedrick Pickering hasmade it clear that the planningstages of the 2,500-foot runwayextension project are well underway: Residents have been con-sulted, the environmental impacthas been studied, and contractorswere recently invited to express in-terest in the job.

He added Tuesday before theHOA that his Ministry of NaturalResources and Labour is assem-bling teams to support the project.

“Our progress thus far looksgood and we are on target to com-mence ground-breaking by the be-ginning of 2013,” he said.

But despite the statements thatDr. Pickering and other supportershave made about the project, therehas been vocal opposition from somecommunity members. Opponentshave raised questions that they sayhave not been adequately answered:

• If the territory can even af-ford a multimillion-dollar runwayat a time of economic recession, isit a wise investment, and how willit be funded?

• If the runway is extended,will passenger demand be enoughto bring the direct flights from theUS and other countries that gov-ernment has promised?

• Will large jets be prepared toland on the runway despite thetechnical challenges consultantshave warned about? [See page 31]The plans

Dr. Pickering has treated theexpansion, which was promised lastyear in his National DemocraticParty’s manifesto, as an electionmandate. At the first of two publicmeetings on the topic, in March, hesaid he wasn’t there to discusswhether the project should be car-ried out, but how it should proceed.

And, standing before theHOA on June 29, Dr. Pickeringanswered that question, too: Heannounced that work would startafter the contractor or contractors

are chosen by December to ex-tend the existing runway about2,500 feet: about 2,000 east intothe sea and some 500 feet westinto Well Bay.

The runway portion of theproject should be complete by De-cember 2015, Dr. Pickering said.

The plans also include up-grades to other infrastructure: theairport “ramp” where jets will park;the passenger terminal; and thenearby parking lot, according to arecent government advertisementinviting firms to express interest inthe project. A new welcome centre,ferry docks and a fixed-base oper-

ator facility, which will service air-craft, are also in the works.

The expansion is designed toallow commercial jets to operate outof Beef Island. Currently, the largestplane operating there regularly isthe 70-passenger ATR-72. The ex-tension, Mr. Fraser said, would bedesigned to bring the Boeing 737-700, which seats up to 149; the Boe-ing 737-800, which seats up to 189;and the Airbus 320, which normallyseats about 150.

Technically, such jets are al-ready able to land on the existingrunway. However, when they areloaded with enough fuel to fly to

the US mainland, they become tooheavy to take off with a full pas-senger load, according to theLouis Berger Group, a team ofWashington DC-based consult-ants who were hired in 2007 toproduce strategic and master plansfor the territory’s airports.

The extended runway will alsobe long enough for some models ofBoeing-757, which can seat as manyas 240 passengers, although suchplanes likely would have to keepsome of their seats empty to stayunder their maximum weight limitto take off from Beef Island, Mr.Fraser, the BVIAA managing direc-

tor, said in an interview this month.He added that private jets,

some of which are reluctant to flyhere in poor weather becausethey’d like to see an additional 500feet of landing space, will also ben-efit from the expansion.

“They will have way more than500 feet; they will have 2,000,” Mr.Fraser said of the planned expan-sion, adding that it will mean thatthe private jets’ range will nolonger be limited by the length ofthe VI runway but by the amountof fuel they can carry.

Page 30 | Thursday, July 26, 2012 | The BVI Beacon Special ReportRunway from page 1

Runway see page 31

Virgin Islands leaders and airport managers have had to

work hard to keep up with planes ever since 1956,

when the first runway, a 1,800-foot dirt landing strip,

was cleared on Beef Island. Initially, agriculture generated

most of the airport’s traffic, but tourism soon took hold in the

territory. Future expansions designed to accommodate bigger

planes were studied and approved by successive govern-

ments, including the current one.

The BVI Beacon | Thursday, July 26, 2012 | Page 31Special Report

New passengersThough there are various tech-

nical challenges with government’splan, the Berger consultants’ find-ings suggest that it is feasible:Commercial jets could indeed op-erate out of an expanded runwayon Beef Island, according to the re-port.

But would they? The answer tothis question is less clear. Dr. Pick-ering has said that tourist demandis enough to motivate airlines tofly regular direct flights from citiesin the US and elsewhere.

He added that his governmentis in talks with several airlines thatmay consider such flights, includingtwo that are “gung ho” about the ex-pansion. But he has yet to publicisea study that supports his claimsabout demand, and he acknowl-edged that carriers haven’t yet madefirm commitments to fly here.

“The simple answer would beyes, but it’s not that simple. It’s aprocess,” he said during theMarch meeting.

‘More iffy’Thomas Tacker, an economics

professor at Embry Riddle Aero-nautical University, said enticingUS carriers to serve the VI marketis not a sure thing. Some airportdevelopers ink contracts with air-lines, expanding facilities for serv-ice guarantees. But in most cases,airlines decide where to fly basedon what makes economic sense forthem, Mr. Tacker said.

“If they don’t have that kind ofdeal, I’d say it’s somewhat moreiffy,” he said.

Mr. Tacker, who wrote thetextbook Introduction to AirTransport Economics, said thatwhen determining a new routeairlines first consider the popula-tion and the distance between po-tential destinations.

“Then they’ll mix in somevariables, such as, ‘Is this a populartourist destination?’ They mightlook at hotel capacity: ‘Is Disneythere or some other major attrac-tion?’” he said.

Then route planners look at adestination’s neighbours, he said.

“Of course they’ll also look at— if they don’t have service tothat city now — how far is thatcity from another city that theycan go to,” he said.

San Juan as a hubLately, the VI’s neighbours

have been getting considerable at-

Runway from page 30

Runway see page 32

But others saychallenges aresurmountableBy JASON SMITHjsmith@bvibeacon.com

In order for the runway expansionproject to be successful, officialshave to find funding, pick theright contractor and convince air-lines to fly here. But another chal-lenge could be technical.

Deputy Premier Dr. KedrickPickering announced in theHouse of Assembly on June 29that the Terrance B. Lettsome In-ternational Airport’s existing run-way would be expanded by 2,500feet, a $38 million project he pre-viously called Option Six.

But that decision to extend theexisting runway goes against theadvice of one consulting team,which recommended reorientingthe runway to the northeast, a $70million plan presented to the pub-lic as Option Four.

Challenges posedSimply extending the runway

along its current alignment isn’t agood idea, consultants with theLouis Berger Group wrote in amaster plan submitted to the BVIAirports Authority last year.

The consultants noted thathills surrounding Beef Island ob-struct the path of landing planes.Such obstructions generally aren’ta problem in good weather, be-cause pilots — although they typ-ically prefer to make a straight-indescent — are able to land using acurved path that keeps them a safedistance above the high terrain.But when visibility is limited orthe weather is bad, pilots prepar-ing to land have to be guided bythe plane’s instruments until theycan see the runway, according topilots interviewed for this article.

When an airport has certainnavigation equipment installed,jets such as the Boeing-737 canuse a “precision instrument” ap-proach when landing. The equip-ment supplies pilots withreadings of the plane’s horizontaland vertical location in relation tothe runway.

At Beef Island, however, the

hills that require a curved landingpath mean a precision instrumentapproach isn’t an option, theBerger consultants wrote.

Currently, the airport has theproper equipment to allow for a“non-precision instrument” ap-proach, which provides horizontalbut not vertical guidance, BVIAAManaging Director DennistonFraser said in a recent interview.

Five optionsOf 16 runway expansion op-

tions they originally considered, theBerger consultants narrowed thefield down to five, which they ex-amined in more depth. Two of thosefive reoriented the runway, and oneextended the existing runway by afew hundred feet but wouldn’t ac-commodate commercial jets.

“Two additional alternativeswere studied to extend the existingrunway [along its current align-ment]. However, due to the lack toprovide instrument approach forCode 4C aircraft [including jetssuch as the Boeing 737], these op-tions are not recommended,” thereport stated.

After reviewing the Berger re-port, the Airport DevelopmentCommittee, which consistedmainly of BVIAA employees, cre-ated Option Six. This option,which Berger never considered,also extends the runway along itsexisting alignment.

John Morrison, a former VIcargo pilot who has been criticalof the proposed runway expansion,said the lack of a precision instru-ment approach means that in badweather, jets will be unable to landat Beef Island and will be forcedto divert to a nearby airport. The

airlines may not tolerate the hassleand expense of a diversion, he said.

“They’re not going to do it.The cost is enormous. People aretalking about big jets, 300 passen-gers. You’d get stuck in St. Croixwith 300 passengers overnight orsomething,” he said.

Mr. Morrison said he remainssceptical that large jets would fly here.

“It’s not like the old baseballmovie: Build it and we will come.[The extended runway will] be abig old expensive white elephant,I think,” he said.

Experts unconcernedOther experts, though, believe

that the non-precision instrumentapproach will be sufficient.

After Berger completed itsanalysis, the aviation consulting firmRicondo and Associates contributedto the Runway Extension ImpactAssessment, which was completedin May. The consultants found that“due to the low occurrence ofweather conditions requiring preci-sion-instrument approaches, a non-precision instrument approach isconsidered sufficient during poorweather conditions.”

The Ricondo consultants addedthat they spoke with representativesfrom US airlines that fly the 189-passenger Boeing 737-800. Theairlines said that a type of non-pre-cision instrument approach knownas “area navigation procedures,”which uses navigation beacons,would be acceptable for their jets,according to the Ricondo report.

Dr. David Esser, a professor ofaeronautical science at EmbryRiddle Aeronautical University,said he doubts that the lack of aprecision instrument approach

would prevent airlines from offer-ing flights here.

“Given the type of climate youhave in the Caribbean, it’s not ascritical of an issue,” he said, addingthat cold and snowy airports in thenortheastern US would be moreaffected. Dr. Esser said that thetype of pilots the airlines hirewould have ample training and ex-perience to make a non-precisioninstrument approach.

“It’s not a safety issue,” he said.

GPS approachesAccording to Mr. Fraser, the

BVIAA director, bad weather af-fects VI airport operations “noteven 10 percent of the time.” Headded that when weather requiresit, pilots can also use GPS, thesatellite-guided location trackingtechnology, to guide a plane alonga pre-designated route.

“You fly to this GPS waypoint,and then this waypoint and thenthis waypoint and this waypoint,and hopefully then you can see therunway,” he said, tracing a fingeralong a printed approach chartthat guides pilots during landing.

Mr. Fraser said that he is notconcerned that the lack of a preci-sion instrument approach will pre-vent airlines from coming here.

“I would say no because thetechnology has evolved; more andmore aircraft are getting GPS ap-proaches,” he said.

A United Kingdom-basedcompany, Davidson Ltd., has beencontracted to design the extendedrunway’s approach chart, whichultimately will have to be ap-proved by Air Safety Support In-ternational, the territory’s regulator,Mr. Fraser said.

Consultant advises against usingthe existing runway alignment

Graphic: PROVIDED

The proposed expansion extends the runway along its existing alignment about 2,000 feet to the east and about 500feet to the west.

Special Report

tention from US carriers. JetBlue— whose executives met with Dr.Pickering last month as he tried toentice them to fly to the VI — hasadded 23 Caribbean destinationsto its routes in recent years. Theairline’s San Juan hub offers flightsto nine mainland US and threeCaribbean cities. The airline is in-creasing flights to San Juanmonths after American EagleAirlines announced in March thatit plans to cut its flights there.

Omer ErSelcuk, the presidentand CEO of the USVI-basedSeaborne Airlines, said he sees abright future for the city, and acontinued demand for smaller air-lines like his to move passengersfrom PR to the VI.

“San Juan is turning into a lowfare focus city area for a number ofcarriers,” he said, referring to Jet-Blue, Southwest Airlines andSpirit Airlines.

He added that those airlinesmay offer lower priced servicethan what larger airlines mightoffer on direct flights to the VI.

“What you’ll have is much lowerfares: The roundtrip fare will be 300bucks into [San Juan’s Luis MunozMarin International Airport fromthe US mainland]. It’s probablygoing to be about $700 or even $800into Tortola if you compare whathappened in the US Virgin Islands,because they figure that people willbe willing to pay for a non-stopflight and they’ll charge [exces-sively] for it,” Mr. ErSelcuk said.

Ultimately, though, enticingairlines to fly directly to the VImay depend on two factors:tourists’ demand for VI vacationsand the financial health of the air-lines themselves.

Mr. Tacker, the economist, saidhe believes that the coming yearsmay be better for the industrythan the recent past.

“Even now with the economykind of weak, they’re still doinghalf decently. I think the mergeractivity and the consolidation hasreally helped them, and they arepoised to do much better in thefuture,” he said.

Demand questionThe Berger study took a stab at

the question of passenger demand,but its projections included as-sumptions about the VI’s tourismproduct that now seem outdated.

According to consultants, the

Runway from page 31

Runway see page 33

But meetings heldBy JASON SMITHjsmith@bvibeacon.com

Speaking to hundreds of VirginIslands residents on March 27 atthe East End/Long Look Com-munity Centre, Deputy PremierDr. Kedrick Pickering said thatthe public meeting he was aboutto convene aimed to kill “threebirds with one stone.”

The meeting, his government’sfirst comprehensive presentationabout the proposed runway ex-pansion at Beef Island, served tofulfill the “public consultation” re-quirement of the 2004 PhysicalPlanning Act, he said.

Secondly, residents’ feedbackwould be useful to the consultantscompiling the project’s impact as-sessment, added Dr. Pickering,who is also the minister of naturalresources and labour.

“Thirdly, the government thatI am a part of promised to betransparent and open, and so pub-lic meetings are a part of our or-ganisation and a part of our modusoperandi,” he said.

In the four months since hemade that statement, his govern-ment has partially complied withhis promise. Dr. Pickering gavetwo detailed statements to theHouse of Assembly in twomonths describing the runwayproject’s progress. He and otherministers also addressed residents’concerns at public meetings andon the National DemocraticParty’s radio programme.

‘Private’ documentsHowever, officials have thus far

declined to make public two de-tailed studies about the expansion:the BVI Airports Authority Masterand Strategic Plan produced by theLouis Berger Group, and an impactassessment created by Kraus-Man-ning and a team of consultants.

The Berger study contains 342pages of technical information onvarious topics: the state of the exist-ing airport; the 16 runway expansionalternatives considered; passengerestimates; financial projections; andthe consultants’ final conclusions.

Berger’s conclusions included arecommendation against extendingthe runway along its existing align-ment, due to technical concerns.Dr. Pickering did not mention this

recommendation when he an-nounced in the HOA last monththat the runway would be extendedalong its existing alignment.

At the March 27 public meet-ing, Dr. Pickering suggested thata resident’s question about the ex-pected economic benefits could beanswered by the consultants’ stud-ies. And when she asked if the re-

ports would be made public, theMNRL minister seemed to implyan affirmative response.

“I don’t know that governmentwould want to keep this sort of in-formation private,” Dr. Pickeringsaid. “That’s the whole point ofhaving these consultations: so thatgovernment can stand and say,‘This is what the consultant saidwe could or could not do.’”

But weeks later, when this re-porter asked for a copy of theBerger study on May 4, Dr. Pick-ering declined to provide it, callingit a “private document” that maycontain proprietary information.The Beacon later viewed a copy ofthe report through another source,who did not wish to be identified.

Impact assessments Additionally, consultants pro-

duced the Runway Expansion Im-pact Assessment in May andturned it over to government. Im-pact assessments normally becomepublic documents eventually, butthis one hasn’t been released. Theassessment is still under review and“will be ready for public consump-tion” at an unknown future date,Ronald Smith-Berkeley, the per-manent secretary in the MNRL,said this month. That 134-pagedocument and its accompanyingappendices, a copy of which wasprovided to the Beacon by another

source, detail the expansion’s po-tential environmental, economic,cultural and social impacts.

A third document, the runwayexpansion’s “business plan,” couldshed more light on the project’s fi-nancial feasibility, but it hasn’t yetbeen completed, BVI Airports Au-thority Managing Director Dennis-ton Fraser said. Under the Protocolsfor Effective Financial Manage-ment signed by the VI and UnitedKingdom governments in April, an“appraisal and business case” mustbe produced and reviewed by Cab-inet before a decision is made toproceed with the project.

It is unclear whether the busi-ness case will eventually be madepublic. After returning this reporter’sphone call on May 4, Dr. Pickeringsaid that he wouldn’t give any inter-views about the project that weren’tbroadcast live via television or radiodue to concerns that his wordswould be taken out of context.

Since then, he did not respondto several phone calls and twowritten requests for an interviewabout the runway expansion.

Speaking before the HOATuesday Dr. Pickering said hisministry plans to appoint an infor-mation officer by Aug. 9, a posi-tion he said was “critical.”

“We need to make a real effortto keep the public properly in-formed as to our progress,” he said.

Photo: JASON SMITH

Residents weighed in on the runway extension during a meeting in East End on March 27. Two public meetings were heldabout the project, but consultants’ reports have yet to be released to the public.

Consultants’ reports not public yetPage 32 | Thursday, July 26, 2012 | The BVI Beacon

“I don’t know thatgovernment wouldwant to keep thissort of informationprivate. That’s thewhole point of hav-ing these consulta-tions: so thatgovernment canstand and say, ‘Thisis what the consult-ant said we couldor could not do.”

DR. KEDRICK PICKERING

Deputy Premier

Special Report

airport saw about 157,000 arrivals in2008. If the runway is not extended,their estimates suggest, this figurewould rise to about 269,000 by2030. If the runway is extended toabout 6,200 feet – some 650 feetshorter than the proposed expansion– the number of arrivals would in-crease to about 298,800 passengersby 2030, the study suggests. And an8,800-foot runway is predicted tobump the number up further to anestimated 308,900 arrivals.

To create their projections, theBerger consultants assumed that thenumber of passengers using the air-port would be dependent on thenumber of hotel rooms and charteryachts in the territory. According totheir projections, in 2007 there werea total of 1,875 rooms at hotels andvillas available for rent in the VI.Additionally, there were about1,000 yachts in the territory thesame year, according to the study.

In order to forecast roomgrowth, Berger examined fourmajor resorts that were in devel-opment as of 2008. Those projectswere slated to add more than 800rooms by 2030.

While two of the develop-ments — Oil Nut Bay and theScrub Island Resort — are func-tioning and capable of expansion,another — the 300-room five-starhotel proposed for Beef Island —was put on hold due to a legalchallenge. The fourth develop-ment, which was to add 200rooms at Smugglers Cove by2019, was scrapped in 2009.

Mr. Fraser, the BVIAA man-aging director, said he would likemore to be done to predict passen-ger growth when the airport up-dates its strategic plan. Revisedpassenger projections, he said,could be calculated by taking intoaccount factors such as vacation-ers’ demand to visit the territory.

“I think if you’re doing a fore-cast for something like this, youneed to look at it holistically; youneed to look at the whole picture.More than just the number ofrooms, I want to see what is thetrend, what is the pattern,” he said.

DevelopmentExisting rooms aside, others

argue that the airport expansionitself would help spur demand anddevelopment alike.

Since the mid-1960s, tourismhas taken off in the territory, rising

Runway from page 32

Runway see page 34

Consultant callsfor an analysisBy JASON SMITHjsmith@bvibeacon.com

Deputy Premier Dr. Kedrick Pick-ering may be spearheading theproposal to expand the runway atthe Terrance B. Lettsome Interna-tional Airport, but his govern-ment’s ability to execute theproject may be limited by what of-ficials in London think of it.

Undertaking a capital projectof this magnitude — $38 million,according to government’s esti-mates — has become more com-plicated since Premier Dr.Orlando Smith signed the Proto-cols for Effective Financial Man-agement with the UnitedKingdom in April. Under theagreement, which commits thegovernment to pass an “en-hanced” Public Finance Man-agement Act by next month,capital projects worth more thanabout $11 million have to gothrough a detailed planning, eval-uation and management process.

Specifically, the protocols statethat before contracts are signed, aproject must be “suitably ap-praised” to ensure that the terri-tory receives “value for money.”

The protocols also require of-ficials to produce a “business case”that explains the economic ration-ale for the project and includes a“robust cost-benefit analysis.”Cabinet then has to use thatanalysis in deciding whether toapprove the project.

Other studiesWhile the Berger report con-

sidered the feasibility of expand-ing the runway and theKraus-Manning assessment in-vestigated some of the potentialeffects, it is unclear whether eitherof those studies satisfies the pro-tocols’ requirements.

Denniston Fraser, the BVIAirports Authority managingdirector, said in an interviewthis month that a separate busi-ness plan has been drafted andMinistry of Finance officialsare currently reviewing it. At-tempts to reach Financial Sec-retary Neil Smith wereunsuccessful as of the Beacon’sprint deadline yesterday.

The protocols do not explicitly

give the UK government thepower to veto VI capital projects.But, because the territory is cur-rently in breach of the UK’s bor-rowing guidelines, officials have toreceive written approval from UKSecretary of State William Haguebefore taking out new loans.

Additionally, unless Mr.Hague gives his approval, the VIgovernment can’t borrow for anyproject unless it is forecast to“yield sufficient revenues to fundthe additional debt service costs,”according to the protocols.

US requirementsIn the United States, the Fed-

eral Aviation Administration re-quires airports that seek more than$10 million in FAA grant fundingto perform a cost-benefit analysis.

The agency doesn’t makethe decision to fund a projectuntil an analysis is complete,according to a statement fromthe administration.

The analyses, which are onlypart of the decision-making

process, help policymakers “focusattention” on whether a project’sbenefits are justified by their ex-pense, according to the FAA. Theagency considers passengers’ re-duction in travel time as a keybenefit of expansion.

“This reduction in travel timemay be in the form of a more effi-cient flow of people through theairport system or reduced passen-ger delay. To estimate these costsavings it is therefore critical thatthe [cost-benefit analysis] at-tempts to estimate current and fu-ture passenger demand,” theagency wrote in a statement.

Dr. Birney Harrigan wrote inthe VI project’s socioeconomicimpact report that the expansion’scosts and benefits can’t always bemeasured in dollars.

“Stakeholders’ common re-frain, ‘What are we giving up andwhat are we getting?’ deserves ananswer that calls for a cost-benefitanalysis to fully understand thevalue of the territory’s investment

in airport infrastructure,” shewrote in the report.

The “non-economic” benefitsand costs can best be assessedthrough future studies by aviationplanners, oceanographers, coastalengineers, ecologists and anthro-pologists, Dr. Harrigan wrote.

Planning processMeanwhile, the planning

process is moving ahead as well. Though a development appli-

cation has not been filed, ChiefPlanner Marva Titley-Smith saidthe Town and Country PlanningDepartment has been informallyworking with the Ministry ofNatural Resources and Labour toensure that the planning processis followed.

After a particular plan is de-veloped and submitted, Ms. Tit-ley-Smith said, the TCPD mayask for further studies to detailthe impact. The Planning Au-thority would ultimately need toapprove any expansion before itstarts, she said.

Photo: JASON SMITH

Premier Dr. Orlando Smith, left, signed the Protocols for Effective Financial Management in April along with GovernorBoyd McCleary and Henry Bellingham, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s minister for the overseas territories.The agreement with the United Kingdom requires the government to conduct a “robust cost-benefit analysis” beforestarting work on major capital projects, such as the airport expansion.

Questions remain about runway’s costs, benefitsThe BVI Beacon | Thursday, July 26, 2012 | Page 33

Special Report

to be the islands’ main source ofemployment and a key provider ofgovernment revenue. Its successand the perceived need to bringmore tourists motivated the 1999addition of about 1,000 feet to theairport’s runway. A 10-year “Na-tional Tourism DevelopmentStrategy” produced by the consult-ing firm Coopers and Lybrand in1996 called air access an issue that“needs to be addressed as a matterof priority.” A follow-up tourismreport published in 2006 by OysterGlobal Marketing echoed thatsentiment, urging government to“accelerate the extension of BeefIsland runway” and develop strate-gies to increase the number of seatsair carriers offered to the territory.

Russell Harrigan, the authorof the 2006 report and the currentBVI Tourist Board chairman, saidin an interview this month that heis not aware of any studies that es-timate the number of tourists whowould want to come to the VI ifdirect flights were available. ButMr. Harrigan, who is also theowner of the Beacon, added that hebelieves there is “absolutely noquestion” that airlines will be ableto find enough willing passengersto make direct flights to the main-land US profitable. He added thathe also feels it is possible to findenough new wealthy visitors to fillairline seats without resorting to a“mass market” strategy.

“When you look at the wealthcreation in the world, the amountof wealth that is constantly beingcreated, the question is how do weattract the segment of the marketthat we are looking for, which isthe high end,” Mr. Harrigan said.

New investment?The BVITB chairman added

that the organisation plans to rampup its marketing efforts in the com-ing years to encourage additionaltourists to visit. He also believesthere will be plenty of availablerooms for future visitors, predictingthat the expanded runway will en-courage a wave of new investment.

“[The expansion] is an ele-ment that will encourage investorsto put cement in the ground,” Mr.Harrigan said.

David Johnson, the developerbehind the Oil Nut Bay Villacommunity in North Sound, Vir-gin Gorda, said he believes thatthe expansion will bring enoughinterested passengers from com-mercial and private jets to create a

10-month tourism season.“It can’t be an if. The airport

has to be expanded to sustaintourism in the BVI. The rest ofthe world has adapted to thechanging tourism market,” he saidin a March interview.

Mr. Johnson hopes to eventu-ally build 88 villas on ONB’s 300-acre property, though the projectcould take several years. Currently,seven are built or under construc-tion, but the development’s affili-ation with the recently built YachtClub Costa Smeralda, an offshootof a Sardinia, Italy-based yachtclub, is beginning to garner inter-national visitor interest in NorthSound, Mr. Johnson said.

Residents’ concernsBut some VI residents feel that

the increased visitor numbers couldalso bring major environmentalproblems and other negative conse-quences that could be detrimentalto the territory’s tourism industry.In order to gauge the runway ex-pansion’s potential socioeconomicimpact, a consultant, Dr. BirneyHarrigan, was hired by governmentto conduct multiple interviews andfocus groups with residents, busi-ness owners and others.

“While some BVI stakehold-ers question whether expandingthe runway is the best way for-ward, others argue that the gov-ernment needs to proceed withcaution without destroying one ofthe territory’s beautiful natural re-sources, Trellis Bay,” the socioeco-nomic impact report states. “Thecapacity of the marine and terres-trial environments needs to bestudied very carefully and withsome urgency, especially becauseof the increased pressures from theinflux of visitors and workers thatwill result if the goal of a larger

runway is realised.”

Funding Questions have also been

raised about how the project willbe funded in a time of economicuncertainty, when the territoryowes tens of millions for othermajor capital projects that havefaced delays in recent years.

But during the March publicmeeting in EE/LL, Dr. Pickeringtold residents he had been receiv-ing calls from prospective finan-ciers “almost on a daily basis.”

“They see the BVI as a greatinvestment and the potential forthis airport as being tremendous,”said the deputy premier, who didnot identify any of the potentialfinanciers. “So there’s no shortageof interest as far as the financingand the financing availability.”

Speaking before the HOATuesday, Dr. Pickering said that hehopes five to 10 contractors willhave expressed their interest in theproject by next week. The govern-ments of Canada and China havealready made submissions, he said.

The initial studies have beenfunded and about $2.3 million inairport development fees has beenset aside, Mr. Fraser told theStanding Finance Committee ear-lier this year. However, the expan-sion’s estimated $38 million costwill have to be raised throughloans, Dr. Pickering said in March.

This cost could be increased byseveral million dollars if certain envi-ronmental mitigation measures areput in place to preserve water circu-lation in Trellis Bay, according to theKraus-Manning impact assessment.

Any new borrowing would beadded to government’s debt bur-den at a time when the existingrunway is not yet paid off. Accord-ing to the 2012 budget estimates,

about $13.7 million in loans re-lated to the 1999 runway and ter-minal expansion are still owed tothe BVI Social Security Board andthe Caribbean Development Bank.

Financial feasibilityProject opponents have also

challenged the accuracy of gov-ernment’s $38 million cost esti-mate, citing substantial overrunson other capital projects. But Dr.Pickering has downplayed the ex-tent of the financial commitment.

“I will hasten to add that, basedon revenue projections … we ex-pect that the airport will be able topay for its own development,” Dr.Pickering said in March.

The Berger study, however, in-cluded a series of forecasts thatsuggest that several of the expan-sion options government consid-ered would actually lose money.

Berger forecasted the net pres-ent value of five runway expansionalternatives using the cost esti-mates and passenger projectionsthe firm developed. Net presentvalue is a type of financial analysisthat compares the projected rev-enues and expenses of a projectwith its development costs. Forfour of the five expansion optionsstudied — all except for a shorterextension that wouldn’t allow thecommercial jets the governmentseeks to attract — Berger calcu-lated negative net present values,indicating that the future cashflows produced by the expansionwould also be negative.

Berger, however, did notanalyse the particulars of the op-tion currently on the table —“Op-tion Six,” which was created afterthe Berger study by the VI’s Air-port Development Committee —and government has not publicisedany detailed financial analysis.

Still, even if the runway doesn’tpay for itself as promised, it couldbring other perks. Mr. Johnson, theONB developer, said he considershis company to be in a “strategic al-liance” with the VI government be-cause a portion of eachmultimillion-dollar sale of land atONB generates tax revenue.

“The government stamp dutyfrom Oil Nut Bay will pay off thenew runway,” he said.

Hen or egg?But even if funding can be

found and other details ironed out,questions will likely remain aboutthe project. Historically, worriesabout the merits of runway expan-sion are not new.

On April 12, 1969, 40-year-oldHamilton Lavity Stoutt, then twoyears into his term as the territory’sfirst chief minister, stood before asmall crowd gathered at Beef Islandto inaugurate the newly paved3,600-foot runway. Mr. Stoutt saidthat it was “almost redundant” forhim to repeat that the VI was com-mitted to “a course of tourism.” Butfirst, policymakers had to settle aquestion, he said: “Which camefirst: the egg or the hen?”

“Should we proceed fromthe demand side or from thesupply side?” he asked. “Shouldwe provide decent access and sostimulate additional hotelrooms, or should the provisionof hotel rooms force the provi-sion of access?”

This article, the f irst of a two-partspecial report on the proposed runwayexpansion, investigated the project’slikelihood to achieve its goals. The sec-ond part of this report will explorethe project’s potential environmental,social and economic impacts.

Runway from page 33

Photo: TODD VANSICKLE

Deputy Premier Dr. Kedrick Pickering said this week that he expects construction to start early next year on the runway extension at the Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport.

Page 34 | Thursday, July 26, 2012 | The BVI Beacon

Thursday, August 2, 2012 | | bvibeacon.com | 50 centsThe light that comes from wisdom never goes out.

INSIDEBeacon Business..........................16

Vol. 28 No. 51 • 2 sections, 56 pages

Road Town, Tortola,

British Virgin Islands

© 2012, The BVI BEACON

Residentsworried aboutEIS expansion’simpact

SPECIAL REPORT: AIRPORT PART 2

INSIDE:

Festival ScheduleWeekend & Culture

— page 6

Report: Scant evidenceof intentional fraudBy CHRYSTALL KANYUCKckanyuck@bvibeacon.com

A yearlong inquiry into underpay-ments of stamp duty found that asystemic problem, rather than anyone particular error, cost the gov-ernment $3,430,885 in six years.The commissioner who headedthe probe made a series of recom-

mendations for improving theprocess, but found “no evidence ofan intention to defraud, save per-haps in a single case.”

The Report of the Commis-sion of Inquiry into the PossibleUndervaluing of Property toAvoid Chargeable Stamp Dutywas tabled in the House of As-sembly July 24. Of the trans-ferred properties valued at$750,000 or more between 2000and 2006, 22 were “potentiallycontentious transactions,” mean-

ing that the parties involved mayhave underpaid stamp duty, ac-cording to the report.

“The commission is satisfiedthat … the inadequacies and inef-ficiencies in the legal regime andadministrative structure and prac-tices in the Inland Revenue De-partment have resulted in asubstantial leakage of stamp duty,”the report states.

In April 2009, the commissionappointed Deloitte & Touche asforensic accountants to “go

through the data at the Land Reg-istry and Inland Revenue Depart-ment to identify transactionswhich may have been improperlyassessed for stamp duty,” the reportstates. The firm’s investigation, in-cluded in the report as an appen-dix, focused on property transferswith a value of $750,000 or moremade between 2000 and 2006.

The bulk of the underpaidduty – $3.1 million – came from

Stamp duty underpayment cost gov’t $3.4m

Effects on TrellisBay a concernBy JASON SMITHjsmith@bvibeacon.com

Though their articles appeared inseparate publications six monthsapart, the two writers came tosimilar conclusions about thechallenges and benefits of visitingthe Virgin Islands.

“It requires effort to reach theBritish Virgin Islands but theCaribbean archipelago offers idyl-lic rewards,” Mary Wilson, a Fi-nancial Times journalist, wrote inher July 6 article about trends in VIproperty sales, titled “Happy Bays.”

Airport see page 30

KIDDIES FIESTA

Photo: NGOVOU GYANGParticipants in the Rotary Club of Road Town’s annual Kiddies Fiesta march through the capital on Saturday(see story on page 10). Though the event is independent, it is scheduled each year to coincide with the AugustEmancipation Festival, which officially opened later that day at the Festival Village (see story on page 14).

Stamp see page 28

And Daily Mail writer RichardPendlebury spent the first sevenparagraphs of his Jan. 4 article“Bewitched by the Bay” describinghis delayed air arrival to the terri-tory from the United Kingdom.

“The BVI positively celebratesthe fact that it has no direct airservice from the UK or NorthAmerican mainland,” he wrote.“That makes it more untouched,exclusive and desirable.”

For better or worse, those per-ceptions about the VI may soonchange if the proposal to addnearly 2,500 feet to the runway atTerrance B. Lettsome Interna-tional Airport moves ahead asplanned. Deputy Premier Dr.Kedrick Pickering and other Na-tional Democratic Party leadershave described the project as cru-cial to boosting tourism andspurring future development.

But some residents, includingseveral who live near the airport,have raised objections. Their con-cerns include fears that the projectcould reduce water quality, changewater circulation and threaten ma-rine life in Trellis and Well bays;that jet noise, construction and re-strictions on yachts near the run-way could harm Beef Islandbusinesses; and that the VI’s cul-ture and environment could be ir-revocably altered for the worse,imperiling the current tourismproduct.

In preparation for the project,government hired a team of con-sultants to study the potential en-vironmental, economic and socialimpacts of the expansion. TheRunway Expansion Impact As-sessment the consultants completein May isn’t yet public, though acopy was leaked to the Beacon.

The study and its appendicesdiscuss in detail some of the con-cerns that residents have beenvoicing about the expansion sincethe proposal was formally pre-sented to the public at two meet-ings in March.

The assessment was producedby a team of consultants headed bythe firm Kraus-Manning. Theyincluded Clive Petrovic, a biolo-gist; a group of aviation consult-ants from the company Ricondoand Associates; and Dr. BirneyHarrigan, who wrote the socioe-conomic portion of the report.

Two options During the March meetings,

Dr. Pickering and BVI Airports

Authority officials showed thepublic two alternatives being con-sidered for the runway expansion.

Option Four, which involvedreorienting the runway to thenortheast at a cost of $70 million,would have maintained a wideopening into Trellis Bay but would

have eliminated an ecologicallyimportant salt pond north of theexisting runway.

In June, Dr. Pickering an-nounced that the decision had beentaken to move ahead with OptionSix, a 2,500-foot extension alongthe current runway’s existing align-

ment. About 2,000 feet of thelengthened runway will jut out intoTrellis Bay, while about 500 feetwill be extended into Well Bay, hesaid. The option saves the salt pondand requires less of the seabed to bemarred by in-fill land – only 37.4acres of fill will have to be dredged

up and placed in Well and Trellisbays as opposed to the estimated82.8 acres of fill that would be re-quired under Option Four.

But Option Six would signifi-cantly narrow the gap between theend of the runway and Sprat Point,

Special ReportPage 30 | Thursday, August 2, 2012 | The BVI Beacon

Extending the Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport runway by about 2,500 feet could begin early next year, Deputy Premier Dr.Kedrick Pickering has said. The Runway Expansion Impact Assessment explains that construction likely would take place in five phases,which would include filling in a portion of Trellis and Well bays, followed by widening and lengthening the runway. The report does not

detail how long each phase is expected to take, but Dr. Pickering said he hopes the project will be complete by December 2015. The consult-ants recommended that construction take place at night in order to minimise the impact on the airport’s operations. Their assessment men-tions the possibility of placing a portion of the runway on elevated metal platforms, but its explanation of the construction process, below,assumes that the in-fill method will be used instead.

How construction may unfold

Phase 1: Workers will dredgethe seabed, gathering materialto fill more than 27 acres ofland in Trellis and Well bays.

Phase 2: First, the runway onthe Trellis Bay in-fill land will bebuilt. Then workers will createa new route for the road alongthe Well Bay end of the runwayand destroy the old road.

Phase 3: Workers will preparea temporary runway entranceand taxiway so that the portionof the runway on the in-fill landin Trellis Bay can be used as theairport’s runway while worktakes place on the western end.

Phase 4: The Trellis Bay por-tion of the runway extensionwill be officially commissioned,bringing the operable runwayto 5,462 feet. Constructionwork on the western portion ofthe runway on the Well Bay in-fill land will begin.

Phase 5: The centre of the ex-isting runway will be widenedand the temporary taxiway willbe demolished. When com-plete, the new runway will beapproximately 7,000 feet long,enabling commercial jets toland.

Airport from page 1

Jump see page 31

Graphic: DAVID HELDRETH

Special Report The BVI Beacon | Thursday, August 2, 2012 | Page 31

Owners worriedabout futureBy JASON SMITHjsmith@bvibeacon.com

To the guests eating dinner at TheLast Resort, the planes taking offand landing at the Terrance B. Lett-some International Airport alreadyseem close. They may get a lot closer.

The restaurant on BellamyCay sits in Trellis Bay only a fewhundred feet from the site wherethe existing runway may be ex-tended about 2,000 feet into thebay. While Bellamy Cay itselfwon’t be physically impacted bythe extension, the potential effectson Trellis Bay combined with thenoise and restrictions on yachttraffic that the big jets will bringcould doom the 40-year-oldrestaurant, its owners fear.

Ben Bamford, who owns thebusiness with his wife Jessica, saidthat the next few years of airportconstruction will be difficult.

“I think our business will be un-tenable during that phase, and whenit’s finished we don’t know what thenew reality will be,” he said.

HistoryTony Snell, Jessica’s father,

founded the restaurant in 1972after his previous restaurant onLittle Jost Van Dyke was destroyedby fire. Mr. Snell found and even-tually repaired the dilapidatedbuilding on Bellamy Cay, whichhadn’t been used in several years.

In 1954, Wladek Wagner, aPolish sailor, purchased the leasefor Bellamy Cay for $75. He builtthe cay’s first structure – andhelped construct the airport’s firstrunway – but Mr. Wagner’s busi-ness floundered, Mr. Bamford said.

“It was going to be built as asmall resort, but it was way ahead ofits time. There wasn’t anything elsein the tourism industry,” he said.

A decade later, Mr. Snell hadbetter luck as The Last Resort’sreputation among the sailing com-munity grew.

“It’s been known as a bitquirky, not always following all therules. But people like that about it.It’s not a slick New York restau-rant; it’s a quirky little BVI estab-lishment,” Mr. Bamford said.

Those quirks — which at onetime included a resident donkeynamed “Chocolate” and currentlyinclude regular entertainment such

as a singing chef – may be imper-iled by the “very noisy jets” the run-way will bring, Mr. Bamford said.

ImpactThe Runway Expansion Im-

pact Assessment, compiled by ateam of consultants and completedin May, suggested that the effectsof the jet noise could be reduced ifgovernment retrofits the restaurantwith soundproofing materials in anact of “demonstrable goodwill.”

Mr. Bamford is sceptical thatthis measure will work.

“I don’t quite know howthey’re going to mitigate a big jetlanding 50 feet from our restau-rant,” he said.

Noise is only one issue. In ad-dition to a strong VI crowd, manyof The Last Resort’s visitors comefrom charter yachts that Mr. Bam-ford fears would stop coming tothe area if the runway obstructsentry to Trellis Bay.

“How do the boats that wantto come in come in with thesemast height restrictions?” Mr.Bamford said.

The impact assessment sug-gests that a mast-height restrictionzone for yachts would need to beimplemented at the Trellis Bayend of the expanded runway andalong its side, but the precise dis-tances aren’t listed. A drawing ofthe expansion also indicates thatyachts will still be able to enterTrellis Bay through a 390-foot-wide entrance between SpratPoint and the end of the runway.

Government discussionsDeputy Premier Dr. Kedrick

Pickering, who is spearheading therunway expansion project, has pre-viously said that government is

considering ways to limit the im-pact to Bellamy Cay.

During a March 27 publicmeeting at the East End/LongLook Community Centre, Mr.Snell, 90, rose to sing a calypsosong he wrote in opposition to theexpansion. Minutes later, Dr. Pick-ering addressed his concerns.

“The government has no in-terest in destroying what goes onat Bellamy Cay; that’s not an issuethat the government wants to dealwith at all,” Dr. Pickering said.

Then he paused for a momentbefore continuing.

“But I also want to remind thegentleman from Bellamy Cay, thereused to be a restaurant on Beef Is-land called Conch Shell. There usedto be,” Dr. Pickering said, referringto a business that closed as a resultof the previous runway expansion.

Mr. Bamford said he was con-fused by those remarks.

“I didn’t know what he wassaying: If it was, ‘Don’t worry,you’ll be looked after just likethere was compensation just likewe gave to Conch Shell Point;’ orif he was saying, ‘Be careful be-cause we can just eliminate you,’”Mr. Bamford said.

The Snell family includesthree generations who have astrong connection to The Last Re-sort and the VI, he added.

“There was a lot of talk onlineof ‘Your bones won’t be buried hereso why do you care?’ It’s importantto understand that the business isowned by BVIslanders, long-termBVIslanders,” Mr. Bamford said,referring to the VI citizenship ofhis wife and her father. “It’s not anexpatriate business.”

likely interfering with the current’sability to naturally “flush” the bay,the consultants found.

“Either runway extension op-tion will involve substantial landreclamation into areas wherestrong currents are common.Therefore, some impact on theoceanographic processes shouldbe expected. In particular, thequestion of alteration of currentsand sediment transport is a majorconsideration,” consultants wrotein the impact assessment.

In his public statements Dr.Pickering has sought to allay critics’fears that Trellis Bay could becomea “dead bay,” saying that consultantswould model the current patternsbefore government proceeds withthe development.

“This government will donothing to harm Trellis Bay,” hesaid at the March 27 public meet-ing, adding a few moments laterthat “no one in this room is moreenvironmentalist than I am.”

Dr. Pickering declined to beinterviewed about the expansionin May, and since then he has notresponded to several more re-quests for an interview.

Altered currents The impact assessment found

that changing the current couldhave wide reaching effects.

“For example, the runway ex-tension toward Trellis Bay couldimpact currents so that parts ofTrellis Bay, or even more distantlocations like Long Bay, may beaffected. The result could be ero-sion and scouring of portions ofthe seabed or shore,” the assess-ment stated, though it adds thatcomputer models of current activ-ity “suggest such problems are un-likely to be serious.”

But Chris Syms, the co-ownerof De Loose Mongoose and theBeef Island Guest House, worriesthat if the current is impeded, theresulting changes could harm ma-rine life in the bay or erode the ex-isting beach.

“Basically you’re putting anarm out into the current, reversingthe flow of what is the flow now,”he said.

The business owner said hewould be less concerned if the air-port extension is built on top ofelevated platforms that allowwater to circulate underneath. Dr.Pickering mentioned this possi-bility in the House of Assemblyon June 29.

“This technology, even thoughnew to the Caribbean region, hasalready been used elsewhere in theworld in the construction of eitherrunways, taxiways or aprons struc-tures,” Dr. Pickering said.

He added that he and BVIAAManaging Director DennistonFraser recently visited the La-Guardia International Airport inNew York City to view the plat-form technology in action.

This method, however, couldmore than double the cost of theproject. Placing the needed242,000 square feet of the runwayon elevated piles could add $34 to$62 million to the expansion’s es-timated $38 million cost, accord-ing to the impact assessment.

Other mitigationThe consultants also analysed

other options to preserve the bay’scirculation. A series of 29 10-foot-wide culverts below the runwaywould allow water to flowthrough, but would could cost anextra $8 to $10 million, theyfound. Additionally, those culvertsmight get blocked with marine lifeand require regular cleaning, ac-cording to the assessment.

Another option, removingseveral hundred square feet ofSprat Point, would improve circu-lation and allow wider access foryachts, the consultants found.That alternative would also createabout 140,000 to 170,000 cubicyards of fill that could be used tobuild the runway, they estimated.

But tests would have to bedone to make sure the material ishard enough to be used, the as-sessment added. This optioncould cost an additional $2 to $3million in dredging and removalcosts, though the assessment doesnot state how much it will cost topurchase the land from its currentowner, Quorum [BVI] Limited.

A fourth option, dredging a4,000-foot channel parallel to therunway that would connect Trellisand Well bays to promote betterflushing, would cost about $6 mil-lion to $8 million, according tothe impact assessment. This alter-native, however, is “considered aninefficient means to convey waterbetween Trellis Bay and WellBay,” the assessment stated.

The channel it would require“may develop into a maintenanceconcern and possible debris trap,”the document added. “If insuffi-cient water volume may passthrough the channel during anormal tidal cycle it may lead to

Last Resort imperiled by airport expansion

Photo: TODD VANSICKLE

Bellamy Cay seen from the air.

Airport from page 30

Airport see page 32

future water quality issues inTrellis Bay.”

Aragorn Dick-Read, an artistand spokesman for the Trellis BayBusiness Association, said thatbusiness owners in the area haveserious doubts that the mitigationmeasures will be cost effective orfunction properly.

“I haven’t seen anything thatconvinces me that they will, no.And I haven’t seen anything thatconvinces me that business asusual can carry on in Trellis Bay,”said Mr. Dick-Read, who ownsAragorn’s Studio in Trellis Bayand organises a regional arts andcrafts fair in the area each year.

Marine impactIf the bays aren’t flushed prop-

erly and if sediment from con-struction isn’t properly contained,the effects could be disastrous formarine life in the area.

“Without proper erosion con-trol measures, sediment can pourinto the sea and devastate the ma-rine environments, turning theoffshore coral reefs and sea grassesinto a barren underwater waste-land,” the assessment stated.

Healthy corals could bechoked by the sediment, whichwould further harm fish and thewider ecosystem. Mr. Syms, thebar and guesthouse owner, hasseen it happen before. In the late1970s, there was plenty of ma-rine life in the area, including“big schools of spotted eaglerays” he said.

“Back in those days, if we got15 boats in the bay, it was a bignight,” Mr. Syms said.

As more boats started anchor-ing there, they damaged what hadbeen a healthy reef, he said,adding that the reef began to re-cover once government installedmooring balls in the bay. Thingsworsened a bit again in 2000 onceconstruction began on the previ-ous runway expansion, he said,adding that he fears a new roundof construction could further dam-age sea life.

“The environmental part is ahuge concern for us,” he said.

While much of the runwayexpansion’s impact can be miti-gated, the destruction of sea lifewhere the in-fill land will beplaced is “unavoidable and a con-sequence of development,” theassessment stated.

“Everything in the footprint ofthe runway extension will be lost(except for what may be relo-cated). The underwater habitatsare widespread, and much moreexists beyond the direct impactzone. Coastal mangroves in theWell Bay area will also be af-fected,” the document added.

Despite those impacts, the as-sessment also noted that “virtuallynothing” of Beef Island’s “pristineand natural” habitat currently re-mains due to years of human habi-tation and development.

Other areasThe expansion’s impact could

also be felt beyond Trellis andWell bays. Some of the sand thatmakes up Long Bay Beach mayshift as a result of the changingcurrent, but no net loss is expected,according to the assessment.

Additionally, though it is out-side of the project’s immediatefootprint, the Hans Creek Fish-eries Protected Area is “suffi-ciently close” to the constructionzone to merit consideration, theassessment stated.

“While it does not appear thefisheries area will be directly im-pacted by this project, issues mayappear in the future that could re-quire mitigation,” it said.

Concern over the fisheries areahas stymied development projectson Beef Island in the past. A pro-posal by Quorum [BVI] Limitedto create a luxury resort and 18-hole golf course there was stalledin 2009 by an environmentalgroup’s lawsuit.

The company originally pur-chased land for the developmentin July 1995, although the $80million development wasn’t ap-proved until about 10 years later,when then-Chief Minister Dr.Orlando Smith signed a prelimi-nary development agreement withthe company.

In the subsequent months, theVirgin Islands EnvironmentalCouncil, a group of concernedcitizens, formed. The VIEC suc-cessfully challenged the develop-ment in High Court. A judgeruled in 2009 that because HansCreek may have been “adverselyaffected” by the development, theplanning application Dr. Smith’sgovernment approved was “voidfor illegality.”

But Quorum successfully ap-pealed the judgment and won theright to continue with the devel-opment. However, while the pro-

ject’s development application isstill on file at the Town and Coun-try Planning Department, recordsindicate that nothing new hasbeen filed in recent months.

Quorom representatives didnot respond to requests for com-ment. Noni Georges, a member ofthe VIEC, said the group has notreached a formal position on therunway extension proposal butplans to discuss the issue at an up-coming meeting.

Noise concernsBeyond Beef Island several

surrounding communities mayalso be impacted by the extra noisethat bigger jets flying overheadcan bring. Residents of HodgesCreek, Great Camanoe, Well Bay,Trellis Bay and Little Mountainwill likely experience higher noiselevels, and residents fear that theirproperty values will go down, ac-cording to the assessment

“There is a concern from resi-dents that property prices mightbe affected by this form of ‘pollu-tion.’ This aspect is difficult toprove and further financial re-search and reporting is recom-mended,” the report stated.

Construction noise and dustcould also affect businesses andresidents in the area, the assess-ment found.

“It is essential that we learnfrom the experiences and examplesin the past. Construction activitiesmust be designed and managed toreduce negative impacts on the en-vironment beyond the immediateproject footprint. Erosion controlmust be employed to prevent sed-iment loss to the coastal environ-ment,” the assessment stated.

Business worriesIn addition to the fears that

some VI residents raised aboutthe runway construction’s ef-fects in the short term, othersare concerned that the expan-sion could affect their liveli-hoods permanently.

The assessment reported thatTrellis Bay businesses and resi-dents raised “serious warrantedconcerns” about the project, but italso suggested that “change can beadapted to and accommodated.”

Mr. Dick-Read, of the TrellisBay Business Association, saidthat besides the environmentalconcerns he is afraid that the ad-ditional restrictions on boat traf-fic the expanded runway couldbring will harm businesses’ cus-tomer base.

“The bottom line is that the

vessels that enjoy visiting TrellisBay now — and [that] all of ourbusinesses are dependent on —will not be coming to TrellisBay as they have in the past,” hesaid, adding about 90 percent ofhis art studio’s customers aresailing guests.

“The whole concept of busi-ness in Trellis Bay is dependenton boats arriving and people en-joying the benefits of the beachcommunity and the natural envi-ronment, which will all be com-promised,” he said.

Yachting concernsCharter Yacht Society Chair-

man Tim Schaaf said the TrellisBay area is a great place to enter-tain charter guests due to the fullmoon parties businesses there hostmonthly, and because some restau-rants like The Last Resort and thenearby Pusser’s Marina Cay havedeveloped a strong followingamong sailors. Additionally, thebay’s central location makes it aconvenient place to anchor asyachts cruise around Tortola andthe sister islands, he said.

“Otherwise, it makes the tripfrom North Sound to Jost VanDyke a very long trip,” he said.

The captain added that themast restrictions that the ex-tended runway will bring, com-bined with the loss of mooringballs and Trellis Bay’s narrowedentrance, will make it much morecomplicated for ferries and yachtsto share the bay.

Mr. Syms, the guesthouse andbar owner, has seen his businessesgrow and change since the late1970s when he first came to theterritory with his wife. While hisfour-bedroom guesthouse can ac-commodate about 10 people andwas initially the focus of the busi-ness, traffic to De Loose Mon-goose restaurant and bareventually outpaced the guest-house. But the guesthouse some-times serves as an “airport hotel”for late-arriving visitors bound forsister island resorts, he added.

“More and more as the airportgrew, tourism grew, we becamesort of the little hub for the otherresorts because we’re so close tothe airport,” Mr. Syms said.

If the runway expansion re-duces boat traffic into Trellis Bay,the businessman said, he hopesthat the additional air arrivals willmake up the difference for the lostrestaurant and bar business.

Still, he can only take so many

guests with his current facility.“If you’ve got a jet with 240

people and that jet can’t leave thatnight, where are those 240 peoplegoing to go? Not into my fourbedrooms,” Mr. Syms said.

Focus groupsDr. Harrigan performed the

socioeconomic portion of the im-pact assessment through her con-sulting firm Reality Global. Sheconducted dozens of interviewsand focus groups with partieslikely to be affected by the runwayexpansion. Her portion of the as-sessment recommended that Trel-lis Bay business owners adapt tothe change, noting that becauseseveral of the properties are onleased Crown land, their propertyvalues won’t be affected.

“The additional demand fromthe expected increase in the num-ber of visitors may require thosebusinesses to rethink their oldstrategies and find new ways tocapture this new market,” Dr. Har-rigan wrote.

For Mr. Dick-Read, though,the current strategy works well forTrellis Bay and other area busi-nesses. He said that the “grass-roots” contact that small businesseslike his offer tourists are the typeof “genuine experience” mosttourists crave. He added that whilehe understands the rationale be-hind bringing in more visitors, hefeels the expansion is the wrongproject at the wrong time.

“I do fully support all efforts tofind solutions to increase and im-prove the quality of airlift in theBVI,” he said.

Russell Harrigan, the chair-man of the BVI Tourist Boardand the owner of this newspaper,said that he understands the con-cern of residents who fear theterritory’s culture and environ-ment could be adversely affectedby the expansion.

“We’ve always tried to strikea balance in what we do. I thinkto the best that we can, we do,”he said.

But he added that he feels thatgetting people to the VI is “thenumber one challenge we’re facingas a territory.”

“I think as a territory we havealways struggled with this issue ofair access from day one,” he said.“In the earlier years, we were ableto manoeuvre and get through it,but as the industry continues togrow we have to look at its long-term viability.”

Special ReportPage 32 | Thursday, August 2, 2012 | The BVI Beacon

Airport from page 31