Finance Minister learns lesson from 2022 Jackson Bay protests

Minister of Finance, Camillo Gonsalves has presented residents of Layou with details on a new development and beautification plan for Jackson Bay at a community consultation, having taken note of their response last year to a jetty that was proposed for the area.

On Wednesday, May 10, Gonsalves; Member of Parliament for Central Leeward, Orande Brewster; and project Architect and head project designer Dimitri Samuel, hosted a community consultation on the project at Jackson Bay. The public was introduced to the project during the presentation of the 2023 Appropriation Bills in Parliament on January, 9, where Gonsalves said that the sum of EC$1 million had been allocated in the 2023 budget for the enhancement of the beach front.

When the government had floated the idea in 2022 to erect a jetty at Jackson Bay, residents staged a militant protest against that development declaring that the only beach area they had for recreation was being taken away.

Now, Gonsalves and Brewster are back for round two with a new and improved plan, one which Gonsalves said he is sure residents will be proud of.

“Because I’ve been working with Randy,[Orande Brewster]. I have been up and down in his constituency in more community consultations led by Randy, village by village, than any other elected member of parliament anywhere in the country…” Gonsalves said.

He said Brewster approached him with the proposal to give the people of Jackson Bay and Layou what they want, and to also make sure that it becomes a destination for people all around St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and for the tourists.

“We want when the cruise ship passengers come off the boat in Kingstown that the taxi driver says, ‘I know a nice beach to carry you to, and the taxi driver will make a good change driving out here to Jackson Bay, and the tourists will come out and spend some money out here as well, so we decided that we will do a beautification,” Gonsalves told Layou residents at the consultation.

He said in addition to tourism, Brewster has also been concerned about the livelihoods of fisherfolk in his constituency, adding that his concern and activism have led to the construction of a Blackfish processing facility in Central Leeward.

“And so he said, we have to create something that has recreation for the people of Jackson Bay so they can enjoy themselves, the people of Layou so they can come and relax on the beach, that it has lockers and equipment and facilities for the fisherfolk who operate out in this area, that it protects the school children so that they’re not interacting with all the extra people who will be coming on the beach and they’re protected and safe, and that it also creates opportunities for people to come and make a dollar off of tourists that come…”.

Gonsalves said that the government has been planning and examining the best way to develop Jackson Bay and also honour the interests of everybody in the area and the private people who own land around Jackson Bay.

“…It’s not all our land, we can’t do what we want. There are private people there. There are schools there. There’s a business that’s developing there so we want to develop holistically to make sure that everybody is coordinated and that we create something that the people of Layou will love and be proud of going forward,” he outlined.

“We have spoken to the people who leave the old iron and the metal down there on the beach about removing that. We’ve spoken about having beach clean-ups to get the community invested in this beautiful gem that we have here called Jackson Bay and, all of those things now are ready to take off together.”

Gonsalves said that negotiations by the government to purchase additional lands are well advanced, as are the designs for what the government is going to do with the bridge, gazebo, bathroom, river defence and protecting the school.

There will also be the construction of a food vending area, as well as improvements of the existing one; a picnic area; a lookout point; a wooden pedestrian bridge across the river; construction of a 3-foot wall at the back of the primary school to secure the premises; strengthening of the coastline north of the jetty towards the river mouth; installation of solar lamps; painting of the sea defence wall; and placement of bins in designated garbage collection zones.

“So here we are now, we have come up with a plan after listening to your comments in the protests of March of last year, and now we’re here to present the plan to hear whether you don’t like it … the things you would like to change, the things you would like to improve.”