What ah paradise!

Exactly fifteen months ago about thirty plus small farmers occupying 59 acres of lease-hold State Lands on de Richmond Estate, were literally kicked off dey Farms widout Notice, widout any Consultation whatsoever, to give way to Reyneau construction Company of Sin Lucia to operate a stone quarry in the North Leeward area.

De project promised too much foh de Go-venom-mint of SVG to lose, nine hundred thousand dollars annually foh ah grand total of 27 million dollars foh de next 30 years and possibly 40 years. Under the agreement, de Go-venom-mint would be entitled to $12,000 annually for almost 59 acres of lands being leased for the operations, and $2 for every ton ah material exported by Rayneau. If yuh think dat is money hear dis, de lease agreement estimates that 500,000 tons of aggregate can be extracted from the site yearly. Dah’s another million dollars ah year. All ah dis was too much foh Minister Call-us who said he paid his way to Sin Lucia to see de operations of de Company.

Slowly de Too-Too start to hit de fan. Compensation foh displaced farmer was slow in coming, so was Planning Permission and when de question of an Environmental Impact Study came up, one dat was done in 2008 foh another potential investor surfaced. Subsequently de Prime Minister was reported to have said dat a full environmental and social impact study was carried out on the site, and approval was granted for the Hard Rock Quarry to be established. Technical experts are searching foh it and asking when was dat study done and by whom.

Just imaging ah few months after de 2021 Volcanic Eruption, way several million tons of volcanic material would have literally changed de landscape of North Leeward, our Hurru-Hurry quick cash foh Curry Experts did not see it necessary to have ah more full-some study done.

Six months ago de news coming out from de Company was not encouraging foh Quarry enthusiasts. They were challenges wid de increase in de depth of de rocks; dat will require a great deal more work. And of course, de cost factor getting the rock is significantly more than originally anticipated.

So sadly or unfortunately dis glorious and ambitious project, whose operation was supposed to be 99% exportable and 1% for St. Vincent, was also supposed to meet first and foremost, de country’s massive Projects, like New Kingstown Port way we digging ah Hole on de coast outside to de Argyle Airport to fill ah Hole in Town.

Well according to Lie-Za de company is yet to produced ah grit or even ah boulder, in de meantime dey going full speed wid an Agricultural Project on Agricultural Lands at Richmond erroneously approved foh Quarry. What ah country!! Ah Quaarry Site, producing foods for local consumption and export. First dey got rid ah we local farmers, threw dem off dey farms, interrupting dey successful journey from lickle Farm Labourers to proud Land and Farm owners.

Dey will be no match foh de competition ah de Quarry now turn Farming Company. But dis is SVG, like it or not its ah Paradise foh outside Infestors. And wi dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy.

Bassy Alexander is a land surveyor, folklorist and social commentator.