$400K insurance payout for Fishing Complex should be used to rebuild

Minister of Fisheries & Agriculture, Dr Natalio Wheatley has suggested that monies received post-hurricane Irma as insurance for the BVI’s Fishing Complex should be used towards rebuilding that facility.

The minister expressed that view during deliberations of the Standing Finance Committee (SFC), which met late last year to examine draft estimates of the 2022 budget.

According to the SFC report, Dr Wheatley said approximately $400,000 was received as insurance after the fishing complex was destroyed in the 2017 hurricane.

Although the minister was recorded in the SFC as stating that the project had received no funding in the budget and said there was a need for it to be funded, Permanent Secretary (PS) in the Ministry, Dr Marcia Potter, indicated that Dr Wheatley had also mentioned that a $50,000 sum allocated under the Fishing Complex was not adequate. 

Penn unhappy complex turned into parking lot

Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Marlon Penn did not attempt to hide his dissatisfaction about the rebuilding of the fishing complex when he appeared during a House of Assembly (HOA) sitting late last year. He frowned upon the property being made into a parking facility by the Virgin Islands Party (VIP) administration.

“We’ve destroyed a perfectly functioning space at Baughers Bay. We mowed it down, there were monies there available from the insurance to make some minor repairs, to make the repairs that were necessary. We could have used that space in the interim until we were ready for fishing and farming, fix the storage capacity in terms of the freezers and so forth, and address that issue. [But], we mowed that particular space down to create parking,” Penn stated.

The Opposition Leader questioned the government’s dedication to revitalising the fishing sector, despite their stated intention to have the complex relocated to Paraquita Bay and the distribution of more than six million dollars to farmers and fisherfolks during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’ve allocated $50,000 to the development of a fishing complex in the BVI. We’re going to put up a tent? That is what our vision is for fishing?” Penn asked.

Under the circumstances, Penn expressed that the government lacked a plan to diversify the economy and suggested that there was only rhetoric on offer instead to mislead and fool the public.