I rarely post about modern St Helena, but a recent edition of a new publication, The Saint reminded me of a story I came across when I visited a year ago.
To put it simply, some £80 million of British taxpayers money was spent on a bulk fuel installation in Upper Ruperts and a new gantry in Ruperts Bay, neither of which will probably ever be used.
The airport was a DFID project, and the planning and management was ultimately in Whitehall hands, although "the Saint" seeks to put at least some of the blame on local officials.
Also Ruperts is/was littered with vehicles used in the airport project now slowly rusting away.
The airport contractors have apparently gone bankrupt, and nobody seems quite sure who the vehicles belong to. This state of affairs should not I think be laid at the door of the St Helena Government, and certainly not the current one which has only been in office for just over a year.
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