Despite some environmentalists raising concerns over the establishment of an 18-hole golf course on the island of Barbuda, project president Justin Wilshaw said that construction is on schedule to meet its end-of-year deadline.
The Barbuda Ocean Club, which includes a residential village, was described on its website as an “escape to the ultimate Caribbean hideaway where a…private paradise awaits” and has been welcoming guests since December 2023.
Speaking on state media, Wilshaw said that “We have over 40 staff working on the golf course every single day, but we look forward to growing that, and as we look at the residences, we’re looking at 20 to 30 new properties that are being delivered each year, so it is an exciting time for everybody.
“In fact, we have over 400 independent contractors that are based on site as well, so if you look at our day-in, day-out count, we’re far exceeding 800 people that come to work here every day,” Wilshaw said.
“We will have over 400 properties and that’s going to need at least 2,000 people to look after those 400 properties, so it is significant.
“We keep talking about the largest project in the Leeward Islands and we’re still proud to hold that mantle, but it is challenging.
“But with the support of the government, and the people of Antigua and Barbuda, we are making massive steps as we go forward,” he added.
While the project does have tremendous economic benefit, some Barbudans are concerned about its impact on the environment.
Environmentalists and locals expressed concerns about the project’s impact on Barbuda’s delicate ecosystem.
In 2020, the Global Legal Action Network filed a complaint with the Ramsar Secretariat in Geneva, alleging destruction of important wetlands due to the club’s construction.
Official documents obtained by Observer media in 2020 highlighted potential risks to human life and the island’s water system, while the Department of Environment warned of dangers to both wildlife and ecosystems.
The Global Coral Reef Alliance also chimed in, suggesting the project should be rejected on multiple grounds.
Observer media, over the weekend spoke to John Mussington who reiterated his fears that it will spell disaster for the area, recognised as being of international importance under the Ramsar Convention.
“In the first place, golf courses are [concerning] throughout the Caribbean, even more than the climate crisis for the depths of coral reefs and near-shore ecosystems, because golf courses consume huge amounts of water, utilize huge amounts of pesticides and fertilizers and those sorts of things, especially the fertilizers, which, in the marine environment, mark death,” Mussington said.
However, Abishur Thomas, Supervisor of Development for the Barbuda Ocean Club, insists that they are actively managing environmental challenges.
“We’ve stuck to our plan of mitigation that supersedes the whole construction process; we are building in a sensitive area—Palmetto Point is a sensitive area environmentally, so everything we do has to be framed within that context.
“So, we’ve been salvaging the plants, repurposing them, we’ve been expanding our nurseries, we’ve been increasing our water supply and we’ve been training our staff to handle them,” Thomas said.
This was directly challenged by Mussington.
“There is no way, because essentially what PLH and Barbuda Ocean Club have done is taken the wetlands in a Ramsar site.
“Now when you can see that [Ramsar] designation and you ignore it, you destroy the wetlands by removing the mangroves, and then you create a golf course where you are going to plant grass that you have to keep alive with excessive amounts of water and fertilizers, that is in no way compatible to how you treat a protected system in the first place,” Mussington added.
Meanwhile, the opening of the Barbuda airport is highly anticipated by the development team. It is expected to allow larger private jets and other aircraft to land on the sister island.
“We believe that within the next 30 days or so that asset will be available, but what I think is more important—and sometimes overlooked—is the ease of access in transport between the two sister islands.
“What we have been doing in the interim is investing in the local community; so we did invest in an X-ray machine, we are looking at a dentist facility, so people don’t have to go to Antigua as much, but what we would like to see is for leisure, recreation and sporting, that they have that opportunity to go across the islands,” Wilshaw told state media.
