#BTEditorial – Savvy land dispute raises questions

The recently publicised land dispute between the Government and businessman Allan Kinch has made for interesting headlines and reading over the past few days.

The property at the centre of the dispute, which is sandwiched between the old Eye Ward and the Copacabana Beach Bar on Bay Street, is the home of Kinch’s Savvy on the Bay food establishment and several vendors who rent space from him.

The issue has been a hot subject on call-in programmes and social media. Some of the vendors are afraid they will be displaced and are pushing back against the Government’s plans to turn the area into a car park.

But Attorney General Dale Marshall has insisted that the Government has no interest in stopping small businesses from thriving. At the same time, he said the status of those businesses has to be regularised.

“We are committed to reacquiring two of three parcels of land at Bay Street that were formerly vacant and freely utilised by generations of Barbadians. Barbadians must not be robbed of that right, and whether car park or otherwise, we are intent on securing those rights for Barbadians. Some things are priceless,” he announced on Wednesday.

“We will be seeking to negotiate with Mr Kinch as a first option. If we cannot reach an agreement, then the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act will be relied upon for the acquisition of the properties and the court will be asked to set the compensation that Mr Kinch will be due, which is also provided for under the Act.”

Many have compared the development to what happened to Asha Mrs Ram Mirchandani in 2019. Her Liquidation Centre business on Lower Bay Street was compulsorily acquired by the Government to make way for the construction of the Hyatt Hotel.

At the time, Marshall told the House of Assembly that development must go on and that Government cannot focus on carparks but real development.

“The acquisition will go ahead because the business of rebuilding Barbados stops for no man. Let us focus the minds of the Barbadian people on what our real issues are. This is the first acquisition that this administration has done and I’m happy that we’re doing it at the cusp of our first year in office because it is being done as part and parcel of a truly important developmental imperative.

“We need to get this country building again, we need to get this country working again. We need hotels on our finest beaches and not carparks. We need investment in our country and more from the private sector than from the Government,” he said at the time.Therefore, it is intriguing that a car park is exactly what the Government wants to use Kinch’s land for now.

Kinch said he bought the property for $4 million more than eight years ago when it was being sold by the Barbados Tourism Investment Inc. That was under a previous administration.

But the AG explained that from the time the Mia Mottley-led came to office in 2018, it made it clear to the landowner it did not share his approach for use of the land.

He said the Planning and Development Department had issued an Enforcement Notice as well as a Stop Notice to Kinch in respect of what he was doing on the lands.

“We cannot have one set of laws for the Medes and another set for the Persians. Mr Kinch has disregarded these notices and continued to do his business. How can we seek to enforce these various rules when it comes to small business operators and even homeowners while turning a blind eye to what Mr Kinch has done and continues to do?” he questioned.

But in an interview with Barbados TODAY, Kinch said: “I am shocked that the AG would try to create a story in the news and on the call-in programmes instead of responding to the numerous emails from my attorney asking for a draft agreement since the site meeting on June 2nd, 2021, where the PM [Prime Minister Mia Mottley] asked him and my attorney to finalise the swap of about one acre on the seaside beside Copacabana for two acres on the west end across the road on the corner, beside the traffic light.”

One commentator on social media questioned why Government would take $4 million and invest in land for a carpark when the money could be put to better use: “Wouldn’t it benefit Bajans more if Government was to invest that $4 million-plus on redeveloping the nearby dilapidated building which once housed the Ministry of Health? We need additional healthcare facilities to take the strain off of the hospital. We would be grateful since health care is something all of us need as some point in time.”

A caller to a popular radio programme questioned Government’s move to yet again displace a business on that stretch.

“Why is Government so focused on that area for redevelopment?”

Another raised the question: “First Mrs Ram, now Savvy. Why doesn’t Government use the millions of dollars to develop and improve the lives of those living in nearby areas like Nelson Street, Wellington Street and Cypress Street?”

While we cannot venture to answer any of the questions posed to the administration, we hope that the cries and concerns of tax-paying Barbadians can be addressed by the Government that has touted its pledge to engage citizens at every turn of major decision-making. ]]>