Broken promises #4: Club Med

“In 2007, construction will begin on the new hotel in St. George’s,” said Premier Ewart Brown in May this year.

There are still three weeks until the end of the year, but the comments made by Works and Engineering Minister Dennis Lister yesterday confirmed that the Premier will not be keeping his promise. "When he said construction, he was saying in general terms," said Mr. Lister. "Part of that construction is pre-work. We have to begin pre-work so we can see development."

The demolition work may be a necessary precursor to construction, but it's not what the Premier promised. The distinction between demolition and construction is important, for several reasons:

1. The demolition work is being carried out by Works and Engineering, suggesting that it is being paid for by the Government. As far as I am aware, the developer, Carl Bazarian, and the hotel group, St. Regis, are still financially uncommitted.


2. There has been no suggestion that the main Club Med building is being demolished now - just the staff dormitories. It's the main building that is the biggest eyesore, and that the people of St. George's would most like to see gone.


3. Once construction starts, and people can see the new hotel taking shape, they can be confident that the process is irreversible. Demolition offers no such confidence, since even when it is complete, there is no imperative to proceed directly with construction.

If the Premier meant that demolition would begin before the end of the year, that's what he should have said.

By promising construction, the Premier raised the expectations of the people of St. George's. His failure to meet those expectations is going to lead to a lot of disappointed people in the town - not something you want in marginal constituencies at election time.

Other posts in the "Broken Promises" series:

1. Increased bus service
2. Corruption law reform
3. Public access to information

Suggestions for other broken promises can be emailed to me at the usual address.