Mango House Project gets the green light as sitting MNA Francois Adelaide goes AWOL

While a few residents of Baie Lazare battled for the cause of their district with the promoters of the Mango House project on Saturday, the outgoing MNA Francois Adelaide who spoke so loud in the Assembly was nowhere to be seen.The former MNA for Baie Lazare was nowhere to seen at a public meeting in the Community Centre, leading his district residents to wonder if he didn’t sell out.The meeting was to discuss the proposed change of use by the Developers from residential use to a Tourism Establishment. It was clear that the MNA was backing this application aggressively without even consulting the residents of the district. And there were allegations of inducement by various people in the district, which is yet to be proven. But his enthusiasm to endorse the project and to facilitate anything that the developers and construction contractor wanted was visibly apparent. The DA confirmed to the meeting on Saturday that Adelaide had been invited well in advance to come and attend the meeting. He was conspicuously absent without providing any excuse or reason not to be there. It was well accepted by all present that this project has now reached the point of no return in so far that it will be granted permission to operate as a tourism establishment. The people representing the owners and the construction firm have lobbied aggressively for the change. However, the leaders at district level, which included Francois Adelaide went with the flow. This is normally the outcome when the leaders at district level lacks the pedigree or knowhow to engage the authorities and the powerful players behind such developments.

However, the few residents of Baie Lazare who attended the meeting made a good case for the district. They highlighted several important points that should be taken into consideration moving forward. They also made clear that the community must be assisted in various local projects so as to make this transaction a “win-win” situation for both the people of Baie Lazare and the owners of the Mango House.In the absence of the former elected representative it was left to Teacher Jean-Claude Michel to speak on behalf of the residents, and make an emotional appeal for better facilities for the fishermen of Baie Lazare.

This newspaper will be keeping a close eye on developments………