Submission from Mr Colin Williams, Turks
and Caicos Islands
TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS ("TCI")
ENQUIRY
From articles in the TCI press (following Leigh
Turner's recent visit) I understand that your committee are presently
investigating governance issues in TCI.
I am a permanent resident in TCI having departed
the UK in 1995 to live in Bermuda and work in the USA until 2001
when I semi-retired and moved to new Providences in the Bahamas.
In May 2003 I purchased a canal lot in the East Canal sub-division
of Leeward Estate, Providenciales and set out to build our final
retirement home. We moved to TCI in May 2005 since when I have
been active with the local owners' association and in Estate matters
within the Leeward Estate development. In the course of my Estate
activities I keep a close eye on the changing environment and
am in direct touch with Karen Delancy, my local member of the
TCI parliament.
The TCI Government has a Minister of Natural
Resources, Fishing and the Environment which appears to make the
un-policed mining activity, reported in the letter attached as
Appendix A, even more surprising. However the scale of those activities
and the artists impression of Mangrove Cay resort indicate that
the political process is not able to stay on top of the aggressive
development going on in the islands.
On behalf of concerned locals I trust the committee
can help to resolve these issues.
30 January 2008
APPENDIX A
The governor of the Turks and Caicos Islands
acting in the name of and on behalf of HRH Queen Elizabeth 2nd
recently granted a 99 year Minerals Licence in favour of Leeward
Waterfront Limited permitting them to dredge the sea bed—in
order to maintain a navigable sea channel for recreational yachts
entering from the Atlantic into the Leeward channel known as "Leeward
Going Through" at the east end of Providenciales. In return
there is a nominal annual fee and $1.00 per ton royalty—for
spoil with a potential market value of over $50.00 per ton.
To everyone's horror Leeward Waterfront Limited
have already extracted well over one million tons of sand—with
little benefit to the navigable condition—and piled it over
several acres, 50ft high on the foreshore—apparently with
the intention of neighbouring development and potentially selling
the sand at a profit. Sadly, as in neighbourhood developments
in North Caicos, this new mining process has stirred up sand over
a wide area, causing untold environmental damage to the coral
reefs—without apparent reaction from the Government's environmental
Ministry. This activity is in direct contravention to Clause 3(a)
(v) of the October, 2007 licence—requiring the licensee
to prevent the migration of spoils into the Leeward Channels.
TCI, once one of the top 5 unspoilt coral environments
in the word, is now ranked by the National Geographic at the bottom
of their list. I doubt Her Majesty would be amused to discover
the damage caused in her name. To add insult to the Royal Family's
injury the dredging contractor has begun to pile sand on a coral
reef and conch breeding ground within Princess Alexandra Nature
Reserve on the north side of Mangrove Cay. Apparently the TCI
government have given outline permission for a resort to be developed
on the coral reef with complete disregard to either environmental
conservation or the Nature Reserve.
We understand that Foreign and Commonwealth
Office (FCO) are conducting an enquiry into governance of the
Turks and Caicos Islands. There have been abuses of power in the
West Indies in the past and in the Crown Colonies. Many of the
decisions made in TCI in the name of progress are difficult to
understand. Granting rights to destroy the very environment that
attracts tourism to TCI would only appear logical in the narrow
interests of individuals and corporations rather the nation as
a whole.
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