THA eyes $M Goat Island

The ten-acre privately-owned island, situated two miles off the coast of Speyside in East Tobago has been on sale on the international real estate market for several months at an asking price of TT$20M and was scheduled to be publicly auctioned on Tuesday.

However, the auction was reportedly cancelled and THA Chief Secretary Orville London yesterday announced that an intervention had been made by the Assembly on Monday and that negotiations are currently underway with (RBTT) Bank which is responsible for the sale of the property.

London said that the THA had been approached to purchase the property by the owner, local businessman IT McLeod, who felt that it should remain in the hands of Tobagonians.

He said that ecological reasons whereby the island is surrounded by a coral reef as well as security reasons were considered in the THA’s decision to purchase.

London said that negotiations will “intensify over the next couple days” and assured that the THA “have not been sitting on our hands in relation to the issue but it was not appropriate to say anything until this point.”

He declined to disclose a figure just yet but said that officials will be looking at the use of the property for tourism purposes and that it may be a nexus to the Bird of Paradise Island or Little Tobago as it is commonly called.

Goat Island, which has reportedly been listed on the international real estate market for more than eight months, comes with a two-storey, West Indian-style villa located next to a beach and includes three bedroom suites, a large kitchen and a reception area.