‘This whole visit is a trick’
Hanover mayor questions TEF’s plans for Old Steamer Beach site
Published:Thursday | November 10, 2022 | 3:28 AMBryan Miller/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
A SITE visit by Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) representatives to the Old Steamer Beach in Hopewell, Hanover, has been met with scepticism by community members and municipal officials.
TEF project manager Nalford Hyde, along with consultants from Pragmatic Analysis Company Limited, made a visit recently to the location of the Old Steamer Beach in Hopewell, Hanover, which was met with a lot of scepticism from community members and other local government officials who were invited to the beach for the visit.
According to Hyde, the site visit was just to look at and assess the beach for future development by the TEF, as it is listed among some eight public beaches across the island that are up for development by his agency.
“I have a task to look at the area here for technical discussions with the consultants. All questions will be answered at a planned community meeting at a date and venue to be set before the end of November,” he stated.
Hyde insisted that there is a hierarchy within the TEF, where only certain persons are allowed to report to the media, and he does not want to put his job at risk.
“I may not be the person to answer the questions, and I do not want to misrepresent myself nor the organisation which employs me,” he said amid pressure to reveal details surrounding the visit.
But with a development plan along with architectural drawings already in place for the Old Steamer Beach, from as far back as 2002, and several community consultations already held since then on the matter, persons invited to the site visit, including Mayor of Lucea Sheridan Samuels; Devon Brown, councillor for the Hopewell division, the area in which the Old Steamer Beach is located, along with community development committee and citizens’ association personnel, expressed doubt about the real purpose of the site visit.
A visibly peeved Samuels questioned why was anyone invited to the site visit, if the TEF representative was not prepared to entertain questions and suggestions with regard to the planned development of the beach.
Samuels referred to previous plans put forward by the TEF for the Watson Taylor Park Beach in Lucea, adding that more than once visits had been made, the latest being a few years ago, and promises made, but to date nothing concrete has taken place.
“It’s a trick. This whole visit is a trick. How can you come to visit, invite persons, have no plan and then tell us that a community meeting will be planned,” he asserted.
The mayor said he was present to ask questions about the proposed plans for development of the property.
The councillor also expressed surprise that the visiting team was not prepared to entertain any questions, adding that it was disingenuous of them to invite persons for the site visit and not be prepared to answer any questions with regard to their plans for the location.