There are now demands from the island’s 4,000-strong population for compensation and the St Helena legislative council this week passed a motion calling for an independent inquiry into the catalogue of errors, including where responsibility lies. As a stop-gap measure, the Department for International Development has also agreed to an extension for RMS St Helena until next year. The report, sent to the St Helena government, warned of alarming wind speeds, but the site for the airport had been chosen three years before that report. Some St Helena residents, represented by a 49-strong council, claim the fiasco means they have lost tens of thousands in modernising now empty hotels, eating into their savings. She wrote: “I need to be clear that the St Helena government cannot be held liable for any losses for any businesses that anticipated a definite start date for operations.

Source: The Guardian September 21, 2016 13:14 UTC