CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands-
A documentary commissioned by the British Virgin Islands Conservation and Fisheries Department is critical of a luxury resort and marina project that the government calls vital to the territory's tourism economy.
In the documentary, biologists and conservation officials say pollution and habitat destruction by the proposed Beef Island Golf & Country Club Resort would damage important marine breeding grounds off an island famed for pristine reefs and mangrove forests.
"We are talking about areas that for over 20 years have been identified as areas that need to be protected," said Bertrand Lettsome, Chief Conservation and Fisheries Officer for the British territory, in the 30-minute documentary obtained by The Associated Press.
Lettsome said his agency commissioned the documentary for educational purposes, but declined to discuss the production until its release, scheduled for August.
The resort, which will reportedly cost more than $80 million to develop, has prompted strong opposition–a public hearing this month on the issue drew some 300 people, far more than for any other recent issue. The documentary underscores the divisions over the project, even among government officials in the British Caribbean territory.
British Virgin Islands Chief Minister Orlando Smith, the government leader in the territory, signed an agreement approving the project in 2005 although the developer, Quorum Island Ltd., must still secure permits to begin construction in the fall.
Smith has said that the territory needs the resort, including an 18-hole golf course designed by Jack Nicklaus, to compete with other Caribbean destinations for high-end tourists. His administration, however, insists it can be built in an environmentally sensitive way.
"There must be a balance between the environment and development," spokeswoman Sandra Ward said.
The resort would transform what is still a largely uninhabited spit of land. Developers hope to build 200 hotel rooms, rental villas and the golf course on more than 650 acres by 2009.
