Lawmaker Criticises $2M Festival Allocation
Opposition Leader Myron Walwyn has criticised a $2 million capital allocation for a festival ground in the draft 2026 budget, arguing funds should be prioritised for urgent services. Walwyn raised his concerns during House of Assembly debate, pointing to persistent problems with roads, water supply and unrepaired community facilities such as the Belle Vue Gym.
Opposition Leader Myron Walwyn has taken aim at a $2 million capital allocation for a festival ground in the Virgin Islands’ draft 2026 budget, saying the money would be better spent addressing longstanding basic-service failures across the territory. Speaking during House of Assembly debate on the draft estimates, Walwyn singled out the festival grounds line item while listing what he described as urgent national priorities: water supply, road repairs, healthcare facilities and community infrastructure. “I see $2 million there for a festival ground,” he told colleagues. “Why are we going to do a festival ground with $2 million, with all the issues we have now?” Walwyn said the territory’s roads and water systems remain in poor condition and questioned how such an expenditure could be justified while those needs persist. “The roads are a mess.
Everything is a mess,” he said, adding: “You’re going to spend $2 million on the festival grounds? How does that make sense?” The opposition leader also pointed to specific community projects that remain unfunded in the capital estimates, including the Belle Vue Gym, which he noted has not been repaired since hurricane damage in 2017. “I ain’t see no funds in the capital for the Belle Vue Gym,” Walwyn said, stressing its importance to local communities across the territory.
The draft 2026 budget totals more than $550 million and has been described by the government as the largest in the territory’s history. Walwyn, however, warned that the headline size of the budget does not automatically translate into on-the-ground improvements for residents, particularly on so-called bread-and-butter issues such as water access and road maintenance.
Walwyn urged a re-evaluation of capital priorities, saying limited public resources should be directed to projects that immediately improve daily life for residents rather than to new recreational infrastructure. His intervention frames a wider debate in the House about how the territory should allocate its capital funds amid competing needs.
Members of the House were examining capital spending proposals contained in the draft estimates as the budget debate continued. The government has not, as of the latest exchanges in the House, publicly responded to Walwyn’s specific criticism about the festival grounds allocation.
The discussion highlights the difficult choices facing policymakers in the BVI as they balance investments aimed at economic activity and community life with pressing infrastructure and service shortfalls that affect residents across the islands.
Primary source: BVI News