By Admin. Updated 12:00 p.m., Monday, August 31, 2026, Atlantic Standard Time (GMT-4).
The Government of St Vincent and the Grenadines has identified AHRA LLC as the company involved in the agreement for approximately 100 acres of land at Chatham Bay, Union Island, while defending the controversial transaction as a conservation-focused initiative rather than a traditional land sale for tourism development.
It is not clear if AHRA LLC refers to AH Realty Advisors, LLC, a boutique commercial real estate and property management firm based in St. Louis, Missouri. They specialize in commercial brokerage, landlord/tenant representation, and property management.
In a statement issued on Monday (August 31), Prime Minister Dr Godwin Friday said criticism of the agreement has failed to consider what he described as two key features of the transaction: the land is being preserved for conservation, and the Government retains the option to repurchase it at the same price within two years.
The Prime Minister was responding to criticism from Opposition Leader Dr Ralph Gonsalves, who has argued that the property was transferred below its true value based on an earlier valuation.
However, Dr Friday said the comparison is fundamentally flawed because the earlier valuation was made when the land was being considered for large-scale hotel and resort development.
“The Opposition Leader is comparing two fundamentally different propositions,” the Prime Minister said. “You cannot take a valuation based on the commercial potential of land available for resort development and simply apply it to land whose development potential is now being deliberately restricted for conservation.”
According to the Government, the agreement places binding conservation covenants on the property to protect Chatham Bay’s natural environment and biodiversity by restricting future development.
Dr Friday said the transaction reflects a different vision for the area’s future.
“I agree that Chatham Bay is an exceptional national asset. However, I do not accept the suggestion that the highest expression of its value must necessarily be another hotel or resort,” he said.
The Prime Minister also noted that while the previous administration had favoured tourism development at Chatham Bay, no major resort project materialised during its 24 years in office.
He said the Government remains committed to both economic development and environmental protection.
“A country such as ours needs environmental investment and tourism development, and this Government will continue to pursue both,” Dr Friday said. “But responsible development also means recognising that not every beach, forest or environmentally significant piece of land must be intensively developed to have value. Conservation has value too.”
The Government said conservation-based financing arrangements have been used in other countries, citing Belize’s 2021 Blue Bond initiative, which reduced that country’s public debt while creating long-term funding for marine conservation.
It said the transaction with AHRA LLC has secured nearly EC$53 million and places conservation at the centre of the land’s future use. The agreement also gives the Government the option to repurchase the land within two years at the same price.
The Prime Minister also placed the agreement within the wider economic circumstances facing the country, saying his administration inherited public debt equivalent to about 113 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).
He said proceeds from the transaction will be directed towards debt reduction, the Ministry of Fisheries, land and marine conservation, climate resilience initiatives and measures to improve the efficiency of Government operations.
Dr Friday further noted that around the time the Chatham Bay agreement was concluded, the Government decided to return lands in southern Union Island to residents after they had previously been acquired for proposed foreign hotel development.
Defending the administration’s approach, the Prime Minister said the Government rejects the view that environmental protection and sound economic management are mutually exclusive.
“We are protecting Chatham Bay. We are securing significant value for the Vincentian people. We have retained an important buy-back safeguard, and we are using our national assets responsibly as we confront the substantial debt burden we inherited,” he said.
The Chatham Bay transaction has remained the subject of intense public debate in recent days, with the Government and the Opposition offering sharply different views on the agreement, its valuation and its long-term implications for the country.
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