As concerns over the environmental impact of the Richmond quarry project continues to dominate discussions on radio and social media, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said, St Vincent and the Grenadines has too many raw materials available to be importing stones from neighbouring countries.
“You want to tell me that we in this country with so much stone solid rock stone have to be importing Stones from Tobago.
You had me as prime minister in 2017, 2018 and 2019, calling other Prime Ministers in the OECS, specifically Grenada and certainly St Lucia.
You want to tell me that we couldn’t do many of our projects on a timely basis, roads and buildings because you didn’t have the aggregate”.
Gonsalves said that with new employment opportunities and raw materials made available, Vincentians stand to benefit from the quarry project.
“The country would make money from throughput, but we are also going to benefit because we will get significant employment, and in addition, aggregate will be available here”.
“You know when Royal Mill came to invest, they had to get one of the local investors, Dunbar, to go and buy Arthur’s old quarry to get material to do their construction, and the amount of construction which we have, you need to have significant Quarry”, Gonsalves said.
Leader of the opposition party Godwin Friday is calling on the government to halt the proposed quarry project in Richmond.
“It is simply unacceptable to sell Vincentian lands for “pennies” and then secretly begin work, without consulting the local community who face all of the downsides like the devastating impact on local tourism, noise, dust, flooding risk and possible explosives.”
Friday is calling for full disclosure and transparency in this matter as the country and the people of North Leeward do not appear to be the biggest winners in what the opposition described as a shady arrangement.
St Vincent’s Minister of Urban Development Julian Francis on Thursday 10 said the Richmond Quarry will not encroach on Richmond Beach, except in the area where a jetty/pier is being built close to Cavali Rock, which is south of the river mouth.
Francis said Rayneau Construction Limited will have to ensure ecosystems and restoration effects at a scale equivalent to any damage done and along with monitoring of nearshore ecosystem.
Francis told the media unlike what they have heard from the Opposition party, no residential properties are located in the proposed quarry area.
Rayneau Gadjadhar has a leasehold for 30 years and has made an investment of 30 million dollars in the first instance. The project will start with 30 workers and could climb to 250.
St Vincent and the Grenadines has been importing aggregate since 2001.
