VIP Chairman and Premier and Minister of Finance Dr the Honourable Natalio D. Wheatley (R7) has; however, said he has never heard or seen of any such plans and called it “imaginary”.

Hon Penn was at the time responding to a comment made by Dr Wheatley during the Party Leaders Debate held at Eileene L. Parsons Auditorium last evening, March 11, 2023.

Earlier, Dr Wheatley, responding to a question about the environment, said it was fighting for the environment that brought him into the political life, recalling that it was in 2006 when the then NDP administration was coming forward with a Beef Island development, which was going to dig up a 10-acre salt pond on Beef Island and destroy an environmentally pristine area known as Hans Creek.

The Premier said he and members of the Virgin Islands Environmental Council stood up against it and since then he has been fighting for the environment.

‘Imaginary plan’- Premier Wheatley

Hon Penn used time on a different question to respond to Dr Wheatley, saying he was concerned that former Premier Andrew A. Fahie was “running a runway through the entire Hans Creek.

“I didn’t hear anything about that activism,” Hon Penn stated.

Dr Wheatley also used time on a different question to respond to Hon Penn, saying: “This is the first time I am learning about some, I would say, imaginary plan to put a highway through Hans Creek.”

The Premier explained that Beef Island is privately owned, besides the airport.

“That land is privately owned and I have never seen and never heard of any plan to put a highway through Hans Creek.”

Dr Wheatley noted; however, that his Government had intentions to extend the runway at Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport, “where it is right now, [to] over 6000 ft to get direct flights from New York, Boston, North Carolina.

“I am aware of no plans to put a runway through Hans Creek and I would never support any plans to do that,” Dr Wheatley stated.

It was the controversial Hans Creek Development Project that the NDP administration was pushing in 2006 that many believe cost it the elections in 2007.

Without providing any proof to support his claims, National Democratic Party (NDP) Chairman and Eighth District Representative Hon Marlon A. Penn accused the Virgin Islands Party (VIP) administration of planning to build an airport runway through Hans Creek on Beef Island.