Dear Editor,

Some years ago, hotel mogul Gordon “Butch” Stewart acquired the Dragon Bay Resort in Portland with a view to developing it as a high-end product in his resort chain.

Because of the world recession, coupled with the infrastructural challenges of poor roads and an inadequate airport facility in the Ken Jones Aerodrome, Stewart put on hold his plans for the Dragon Bay development.

Recently, Stewart announced a massive investment plan for the expansion and construction of new resorts across the Caribbean. Among the planned development is the Dragon Bay Resort, which again is conditioned on a redeveloped Ken Jones Aerodrome.

While Ken Jones does require some serious development, our already cash-strapped and debt-ridden country could be saved the responsibility of undertaking such a task if Stewart could lead the charge in assuming control of the renovation and management of the airport, especially as the government plans to divest itself of the operations of our airports, using the Sangster International as the model.

Could Stewart, being a patriot, not join forces with, say, Michael Lee-Chin, who also has tourism interests in Portland? Other players could be included in a consortium to develop and manage Ken Jones as the kind of airport that is required to support a renewed hope in the tourism product of Portland which has not been as vibrant in recent times.

Kevin KO Sangster

sangstek@msn.com