Expert: Cathrin Mueller - 2/3/2005

Question
what are the advantages and disadvantages about buiding a hotel on a large grassy area in Barbados?

Answer
Hello Rebecca,

This sound like a homework question.  Hmmmm..... large grassy area...?  

I have been to all corners of my favorite windward island and there are not many large grassy areas that I know of.  

Barbados is a coral island built on limestone.  This is very different from the rest of the Caribbean islands.  If you look at a map, the rest of the islands are lined up like pearls on a string in the shape of an arc.  These are mostly volcanic in nature.  Then there is Barbados way out there to the east.  This makes the island flatter.  It also has no rivers or lakes.  You also do not have all that much top soil on top of the coral limestone.  There are a lot of cane fields though.

The only grassy areas near where you would want to build a hotel might have ground problems.  I know that when I was looking to buy a home there, I was told that the flatter bits of land in walking distance to the beach need to be tested.  I can't quite recall if the problem was a swamp (too much water) problem or if the ground was not solid enough to build on.

Hope that my answer helps you a little bit on your way.

Cathrin