Gov’t may reacquire Stanford-owned six acres land

St. John’s Antigua: The cash-strapped government of Antigua and Barbuda has agreed in principle with the Stanford Development Company (SDC) to take over its debt to Antigua Public Utilities Authority (APUA) in exchange for immediate title ownership of two parcels of Stanford-owned land near VC Bird International Airport, six acres total, according to a report in the Antigua Observer.

 Chairman of the Antigua Public Utilities Authority (APUA), Clarvis Joseph, noted the statutory corporation has a court order against SDC that requires the Stanford-owned company to settle a debt of close to $2.4 million by February 6, 2012.

“SDC was sued by APUA for monies that they owed. We have a judgement on that and there is a proposal that they sell the lands to the government and they have said they would like the proceeds of any sale to accrue to APUA,” Joseph said.

According to the APUA chairman, order is tied to the same two SDC-owned lands that the government wishes to acquire. And he said should SDC fail to settle the debt by the deadline, APUA would be in a position to acquire the lands in order to settle the debt.

The government and SDC are hoping to seal an agreement that would see the government take over the debt in exchange for the land before the February deadline. The first step for the government though would be agreeing on a valuation of the land with SDC.