After listening to four of his backbenchers express concerns about the proposed Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport expansion project, Health and Social Development Minister Ronnie Skelton also broke with normal party procedure and voiced some reservations about the development long praised by National Democratic Party leaders.

“We are not against the airport project,” Mr. Skelton (R-at large) said during Wednesday’s budget debate. “We are against the procedure and the way it’s being funded. Let us find another way to get it done.”

However, the minister did not waver in his support of Premier Dr. Orlando Smith’s vision.

“But the premier, the leader of government business, you want tourism, you want to boost financial services, so therefore we’re going to find a way to get the airport [expansion] done,” he said.

Earlier in the budget debate, which took place over last week and this week, NDP backbenchers Alvera Maduro-Caines (R-D6), Delores Christopher (R-D5), Mitch Turnbull (R-D2) and Archibald Christian (R-at large) spoke out against paying for the airport project at a time when the territory has so many other pressing needs like infrastructure repairs and educational advancement.

However, the other two backbenchers, Dr. Hubert O’Neal (R-D9) and Marlon Penn (R-D8), spoke out in support of proceeding with the expansion, stressing the importance of finishing a project that government promises will expand tourism and diversify financial services.

Ministers

Communications and Works Minister Mark Vanterpool (R-D4) spoke in support of the premier as well, but he did not directly address the proposed expansion, and Education and Culture Minister Myron Walwyn (R-at large) said he supported the project but wanted to talk more about its specifics.

“We need an airport in the Virgin Islands — an extended airport,” Mr. Walwyn said, adding that it would “continue to secure our financial services. We need to be able to find a way to shore up the tourism product in the country. The question is how do we do it, and when do we do it.”

Mr. Skelton expressed discomfort with the current plan to pay for the project.

“But to go and borrow … all of the money [for the project], it becomes an issue here with the borrowing guidelines,” the minister said, referring to the 2012 Protocols for Effective Financial Management. “It puts everything on the edge. “

The Protocols set out borrowing limits for the Virgin Islands, including keeping the territory’s net debt within 80 percent of its recurrent revenue, its debt service within 10 percent of its recurrent revenue, and its liquid assets/reserve fund to a level that is at least 25 percent of its recurrent expenditure.

The project is projected to cost $153 million, assuming government awards a contract to China Communications Construction Company, its “preferred bidder.”

Premier

Dr. Smith (R-at large), who closed the debate, continued to support the project, emphasising that the airport expansion would improve tourism and attract new types of businesspeople, more trade opportunities, and expanded financial services options.

“We need to expand the airport,” he said, noting that simply announcing government’s intent to do that has already had positive effects on the territory’s economy.

Discussion about how best to proceed with the project is a positive thing, he added.

Lawmakers passed the roughly $323 million budget on Wednesday evening.

{fcomment}