BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – HEALTHY partnership between the public and private sectors has been further tightened as the St. Kitts Marine Works Ltd. winds up its beach refurbishment at Frigate Bay to correct years of erosion.
The frequency of hurricanes over the last decade has caused drastic beach erosion as the supply of sand to the beach cannot keep up with losses to the sea. While sand can be transported from beach to beach, a jetty constructed adjacent to the shore at Frigate Bay disrupts along-beach currents and causes sand loss downstream of the jetty.
This has left the base rocks in the shoreline exposed, and so the St. Kitts Marine Works in conjunction with the Frigate Bay Development Corporation committed to refurbishing the beach for the pleasure of locals and tourists.
CEO of St. Kitts Marine Works Ltd. Regiwell Francis informed that he was approached by the vendors on the beach, who had urgently asked for the problem to be resolved in order to return the beach to a desirable state.
He explained that the project is worth about EC$100 000 and would move in excess of 100 truckloads of sand closer inshore. The company’s crane and barge have been in the waters of Frigate Bay Beach since Tuesday (Oct. 20) and the staff has been working rapidly to restore the beach. This, he noted, would be done free of charge.
“We are taking sand from outside, which originally was on the beach, and bringing it back into shore. After a few storms the sand was washed about 100 feet offshore and extended in some cases up to 400 feet offshore.
“Everyone is talking about the developments at the South-east but I always say ‘don’t forsake the old for the new’. We have Frigate Bay; let’s fix it back, let’s get it going and make it a desirable spot,” Francis told SKNVibes.
The St. Kitts Marine Works official noted that this is an opportunity to show the Frigate Bay Development Corporation that the company is able to maintain the beach there, describing the opportunity as a “a start of hopefully a very good partnership between the private and public sectors”.
Numerous vendors, bar owners and restaurateurs make their livelihood on the beach. And according to complaints, the stones in the shore have discouraged many from using the beach, which adversely affects business on the Frigate Bay strip.
Kevin Ponteen, President of the Frigate Bay Beach Business Association, noted that business on the beach has been struggling to stay afloat and many locals and tourists simply refuse to use the venue once the stones inshore are spotted.
“For the last three years it has been affecting the business terribly because we have locals and tourists coming here, and so as they see that dark spot they will know that rocks are inside there and they will ask for another beach and compare it to beaches in other destinations.
“We’ve decided for this upcoming season that we don’t want to be facing this problem anymore, because it is real embarrassing to us here and the entire country,” he added.
Ponteen thanked St. Kitts Marine Works for its partnership with the Frigate Bay Development Corporation and said he is looking forward to continued partnership.
Managing Director of the Frigate Bay Development Corporation Rudolph Morton also praised the efforts of St. Kitts Marine Works for responding to the calls of vendors.
“When we are looking at tourism, we have to be concerned with people who are working on the beach, as we have provided the opportunities on this beach for [owners of] small businesses to ply their business. And so, we have to try and do things to benefit them,” he said, repeating that the partnership is working.
