BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - RANGE DEVELOPMENTS - the company handling the real estate development of the Park Hyatt Hotel - has addressed concerns raised by nationals of St. Kitts and Nevis that their access to Banana Bay on the South East Peninsula Road has been blocked.
Complaints which have reached SKNVibes indicate that individuals, who - in recent times - have attempted to access Banana Bay via the traditional vehicular pathway, found that it had been blocked.
Other complaints suggest that when attempts were made to access the road, an individual or individuals approached and informed that access through that particular area is not permitted.
Recently, SKNVibes visited the area and made inquiries about the access and whether or not it was blocked from vehicular traffic.
Upon leaving the main road and turning into the access road which leads to Banana Bay, it was discovered that several hundred metres in, about four boulders were placed across the road, effectively preventing vehicles from driving beyond that point.
An exclusive interview with Alan Field - Senior Project Manager of Range Developments - revealed that although vehicular access to Banana Bay has been blocked, total access has not been prevented.
He explained that because the access road (which vehicles normally use) is on the property which is now the Park Hyatt site, and because the construction process has already begun, the safety of motorists has been taken into consideration and the road has been blocked.
“The private land is now a construction site... Previously, access has been permitted across the private property where there has been no construction activity...Now it is a construction site, we cannot allow (the) public to cross the construction site, so that’s why there is now dedicated footpath access.”
The footpath access - which is closer to the coastal line than the vehicular path is expected to remain as the public’s access point to the beach. This publication understands that a wall is expected to be erected on the perimeter of Park Hyatt which would prevent the public from venturing onto the property. This however, would not interfere with the footpath access which the public now uses.
As explained by Field, “After construction is complete, there is dedicated parking spaces and footpath access into the beach.”
Field further explained that they clearly understand their responsibility in ensuring that access to the public beach is not cut off.
