Found at: http://www.anguillaguide.com/article/articleprint/6204/-1/140/
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Airport Compensation Packages: BAIRD REQUESTS INFORMATION, BANKS PROMISES REPORT
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In the Anguilla House of Assembly on Tuesday this week, Opposition Member, Edison Baird, requested information on two matters arising from the extension of Wallblake Airport. His questions were directed to the Minister of Finance, Economic Development, Investment, Commerce and Tourism, Victor Banks.
Mr. Baird prefaced his request by recalling that the Government had reached agreement with a number of affected land and/or house owners on certain compensation packages which he understood to involve land exchanges, replacement houses and monetary payments. The Opposition Member requested the following information:
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Hon Edison Baird
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Firstly: “Who provided the technical advice as to which houses bordering the airport had to be demolished and which could remain, because they did not infringe the airport slope?
Secondly: “In respect of each agreement reached with land and/or house owners, please provide details of the compensation packages reached along with supporting documents.”
In answering the first question, Mr. Banks said that the Wallblake Airport Expansion Committee had met on all the matters and had received technical support and advice where required from the Civil Aviation Authority and the Ministries of Communications
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Hon Victor Banks
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and Lands.
The Minister told the House that Mr. Baird’s second request would require some research and preparation before submission. “The questions were only submitted a few days ago and to respond to them appropriately would require information from a number of departments,” Mr. Banks stated. “The Government of Anguilla itself intends to prepare a case study on the airport project which will be made public and we will provide more specific information to the Honourable Member for Road North in due course…”
Mr. Baird asked Mr. Banks when it was likely that he would provide the House with the requested information.
Responding, Mr. Banks said he had already begun the process and that it would take much effort to provide the requested information. The Minister went on: “He asked for the compensation packages, a lot of them have not been completed and signed; he asked for information with regarding the agreements along with supporting documents. Whether or not that is a reasonable request, Mr. Speaker, is another matter but we will do our best to provide [the information] as early as possible.” Mr. Banks estimated that within a month it should be possible to supply Mr. Baird with some information even if it would be incomplete.
The Hon. Speaker, David Carty, suggested that when submitting questions Opposition Members should to do so as early as possible as this would be helpful to both the House and the Government. In this way, Ministers would be in a position to respond as expeditiously as possible. Mr. Carty observed that the question posed to the Minister of Finance required some serious work in its answering and would necessitate the involvement of a number of public servants with the necessary information.