ANTIGUA’S Opposition United Progressive Party (UPP) has defended the 2009 concession agreement it signed with Sandals while in power and which ruling Antigua Labour Party (ALP) Prime Minister Gaston Browne has described as “illegal”.

“The UPP wishes to clarify that the ABST (Antigua and Barbuda Sales Tax) concession granted in 2009 to the Sandals Group is 100 per cent legal,” the UPP said in a statement published in the

Antigua Chronicle newspaper.

Browne’s Cabinet has torn up the agreement under which Sandals agreed to establish an “ultra luxury-included” Beaches resort that would bring in more foreign exchange, reduce joblessness in the island, bring in greater airlift and generally stimulate the economy, in exchange for certain tax concessions.

Sandals has similar or more generous tax concessions with Barbados and Grenada, both of which have reported big growth in tourism.

Contending that Section 16 of the Finance Administration Act 2006 gives discretion to the minister of finance to make the concessions, the UPP said it was granted in order to secure the construction of the Sandals Grand Hotel, the economic impact of which is unquestioned.

“A 65 per cent ABST discount was granted until the end of 2014; 60 per cent discount until the end of 2022 and thereafter no discount. In contrast: the complete waivers granted to Yida and Paradise Found (two other resorts) are unjustified due to the scant benefits offered by these projects, which are distinguished by faulty agreements granting vast land allotments, with no employment guarantees or performance clauses,” the UPP charged.

The Baldwin Spencer-led UPP noted that Sandals had recently announced the expansion of its room stock in Barbados, and new projects in Tobago and Mexico. Meanwhile in Antigua, unemployment continued to rise, “with the ALP Government neither able to close a single deal nor commence construction on a single new project”.

“The UPP demands that the ALP honours all concessions with the Sandals Group in the interest of protecting both the current Sandals employees and the broader investment climate,” the statement said.