BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE rich ‘sugar-coated’ heritage of St. Kitts was at the heart of an event dubbed the “Sugar Festival and Display”, which was held at the Eco-Park on Tuesday (Sept. 20).
It was revealed that plans are on the front burner to further highlight the culture which was birthed out of centuries of sugar cultivation.
For 300-plus years, St. Kitts and Nevis’ bread and butter industry was sugar cultivation and that came to an end in 2005.
While delivering a speech at the Festival, Minister of Tourism the Hon. Lindsay F. Grant explained that he has already spoken with the Taiwanese Ambassador about the possibility to construct a small-scale sugar refinery and a cotton ginnery at the Eco-Park.
“I wrote to the Ambassador over a year ago - I think it was - indicating to him that I believe we should seek out the expertise that would see us facilitating here at this Eco-Park a mini sugar refinery and cotton ginnery so that we can showcase our history to our visitors, and at the same time get some well-deserved dollars in order to sustain this Eco-Park. Hopefully, what I’m seeing here today is but the beginning of what we would see come to fruition.”
Notwithstanding that it has been 11 years since the industry was closed, Minister Grant said these would add to St. Kitts’ tourism product which is deeply entrenched within our sugar heritage.
“For St. Kitts, our sugar history is at the core of our tourism product. The entire landscape of St. Kitts is dotted with remnants of a rich sugar legacy and these all tell a very telling story. Modern travellers today are really looking for stories; they want to find ways to connect, they want to know who we are and how we became who we are.”
Neither a commencement date nor a date for the completion of this particular project was given by the Minister. However, it is felt in some quarters that these would generate interest among visitors to our shores as well as among the younger generation.
As of January 2017, the Taiwanese-sponsored Eco-Park will be under the sole control of the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis.
