{"id":139822,"date":"2021-10-18T08:01:51","date_gmt":"2021-10-18T12:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=139822"},"modified":"2021-10-18T08:01:51","modified_gmt":"2021-10-18T12:01:51","slug":"government-refutes-claims-of-land-giveaway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/government-refutes-claims-of-land-giveaway\/","title":{"rendered":"Government refutes claims of land giveaway"},"content":{"rendered":"
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POINTE XPRESS: Opposition inspired claims that the government has embarked on a \u2018give-away\u2019 of large tracks of lands have been strongly rejected by the government.<\/p>

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There has been growing controversy surrounding these claims with the leader of the United Progressive Party, Harold Lovell, being among those who have made the charge.<\/p>

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However, during Thursday\u2019s post-Cabinet Press Briefing, Information Minister Melford Nicholas, said the \u2018furor\u2019 that has been created over the alleged land-giveaway is nothing but \u2018a false alarm\u2019.<\/p>\n

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He said the lands in question \u2013 over 500 acres in the Seaforth area near Five Islands \u2013 were not crown lands and were in fact acquired through private hands.<\/p>\n

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Nicholas noted that the government went to parliament recently to amend the Special Economic Zones legislation to allow for the reduction in size of lands required for the establishment of these zones. Previously, it required a minimum of 1,500 acres for these special zones.<\/p>

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The amendments brought that amount down to 500. Under the amendment, an investor has approached the government with plans to establish one such economic zone at the Seaforth area. He revealed that the government gave the greenlight for the project to proceed, noting that it would bring significant benefits to the country. He noted that under the previous UPP administration, the same lands were earmarked for a major tourism development which never materialized.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s not like that area has not been earmarked for large scale development before. In the previous administration, the leader of the UPP, Lovell, would recall that he had touted that area for a development called Azure Project to be a multi-scale tourism project. It never came to fruition, but at the same time the UPP leader is giving the public the impression that we have given away the lands.<\/p>\n

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Nothing could be further from the truth. These are private lands, much like the lands acquired by Yida were acquired under the previous administration from private sources,\u201d Nicholas explained. The Information Minister also recalled that after Yida received the \u2018greenlight\u2019 to proceed with the project, there were much criticisms vented in the public domain stating that the project would result in much environmental and other degradation.<\/p>\n

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This, he noted, has not happened. Instead, he added, significant developments are taking place within the Yida project which will redound to the benefit of the entire country. Nicholas also gave, as an example, the American University of Antigua (AUA) which has been established within the Free Trade Zone at Coolidge.<\/p>\n

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He further explained that while the university benefits from much of the concessions under the zone, its operation has been a positive impact on the overall economy of Antigua and Barbuda with the spinoffs from its students through rental of accommodations, motor vehicles, and their patronage of restaurants and other such establishments.<\/p>\n

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According to the minister, these special economic zones are part of the economic infrastructure which is being put in place to secure the future economic growth of Antigua and Barbuda. Meanwhile, an agreement between the UPP Administration and Millennia\u2013Montaigne Developments (Antigua) Ltd. has been made public.<\/p>\n

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The agreement was signed on July 26, 2011, by representatives of the company and then UPP Finance Minister Harold Lovell. In fact, the records show that over several years, the project appeared in the annual Budget Statement delivered to the parliament when Lovell held the finance portfolio in that administration.<\/p>\n

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The land was the subject of litigation for some time but even after that was settled, the UPP administration still pinned much hope on its start-up to help change the country\u2019s economic fortunes.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhereas Yida invested US$200M to date, this project which Harold bragged about for several years, never yielded a cent in investment. Notwithstanding, in excess of $11M was waived by UPP\/Harold et al, to transfer the title.<\/p>\n

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The government and people lost $11M in taxes and got nothing in return,\u201d declared one government source. Additionally, the source noted that the concessions granted to the developer of the proposed economic zone are like those the UPP had granted to the Azure Project.<\/p>\n

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POINTE XPRESS: Opposition inspired claims that the government has embarked on a \u2018give-away\u2019 of large tracks of lands have been strongly rejected by the government.   There has been growing controversy surrounding these claims with the leader of the United Progressive Party, Harold Lovell, being among those who have made the charge.   However, during […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":139823,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-139822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nGovernment refutes claims of land giveaway - Antigua News Room<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/government-refutes-claims-of-land-giveaway\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Government refutes claims of land giveaway\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"POINTE XPRESS: Opposition inspired claims that the government has embarked on a \u2018give-away\u2019 of large tracks of lands have been strongly rejected by the government.   There has been growing controversy surrounding these claims with the leader of the United Progressive Party, Harold Lovell, being among those who have made the charge.   However, during […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/government-refutes-claims-of-land-giveaway\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Antigua News Room\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antiguanewsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-10-18T12:01:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/landgrab.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"724\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AntiguaNewsRoom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AntiguaNewsRoom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/government-refutes-claims-of-land-giveaway\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/government-refutes-claims-of-land-giveaway\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Editor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36cac05ef6398fe56ae3e6317f8535c5\"},\"headline\":\"Government refutes claims of land giveaway\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-18T12:01:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-18T12:01:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/government-refutes-claims-of-land-giveaway\/\"},\"wordCount\":692,\"commentCount\":5,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/government-refutes-claims-of-land-giveaway\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:960\/h:724\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/landgrab.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/government-refutes-claims-of-land-giveaway\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/government-refutes-claims-of-land-giveaway\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/government-refutes-claims-of-land-giveaway\/\",\"name\":\"Government refutes claims of land giveaway - 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