BASSETERRE St. Kitts, October 31st 2011 - On Wednesday of this week I listened attentively to Mr. Elvin Bailey of the Social Security explaining to the public about the Beacon Heights project. Based on what he said, I had a few concerns.
He indicated that the memo authored by Director Lawrence had been around for some time before it was leaked and that all the matters had been addressed in a satisfactory manner collectively by the Board and that we had nothing to fear. Interestingly in the same interview he declared that he himself had never seen the memo . I am hopeful that Mr. Bailey is correct and we have nothing to fear.
He said when people spoke about the value of the land, that the Social Security paid a fair price. Well let us examine what he said in light of the prevailing circumstances. Social Security paid $31 million dollars for about 88 acres of land. This turns out to be roughly $8 per square foot to be about $344,000 for an acre of land. Undeveloped land in St. Kitts is anywhere between $15,000 and $100,000 EC per acre, so that the highest on average for undeveloped land works out to be about $2.32 per square foot.
A comparison of lands acquired and sold by the government reveals the following. Government sold land at Kittitian Heights at .75 cents per square foot. As a result Kittitian Heights was able to purchase in excess of 200 acres of prime real estate at $32,250 per acre.
On the other hand, government acquired over 800 acres of land at the South East Peninsula for just a little over $46 million EC dollars.
When we do the math this works out to be about $57,500 per acre or $1.33 cents per square foot.
What Social Security has done is unbelievable. They have bought land in an undeveloped area at $344,000 per acre.
There is no comparison here as it is clear that the price paid by the Social Security exceed by any measure the price of land bought anywhere in the Federation.
My theory is that the government at the time needed an injection of money into the treasury. They found a creative way to fund the government by letting Social Security pay more for the land than they should have and thus the government benefited from a windfall.
*************************
DISCLAIMER
This article was posted in its entirety as received by SKNVibes.com. This media house does not correct any spelling or grammatical error within press releases and commentaries. The views expressed therein are not necessarily those of SKNVibes.com, its sponsors or advertisers
