The end of a dream and the beginning of a nightmare

There once lived a people who believed that they lived in the centre of the world. They thought they were better, more street wise than all their neighbours. They did not care much about history and thought they could be smarter than their ancestors.

They made hay while the sun shone thanks to what they had inherited from the past and tried to keep that pristine to keep people coming to visit. Every year there was a record number of tourists visiting this small island.

The historic spots on the island had never looked better. Years of investment in these historic sites thanks to money that the rulers had received from elsewhere meant that the island’s history was preserved.

But just a few kilometres away, greed had the potential to kill the goose that laid the golden egg.

At first, the rulers of the country gave land for free to developers to build hotels so that the tourists would come. And come they did because the island had history and a tranquil way of life.

So developers got greedier by the year, wanting more each time and started to knock down houses to build monstrous apartments which filled easily.

They made easy money so they pressured the rulers of the island (through all means) to give them permits to build even higher. The people were told that land was scarce so the only way to preserve land was to build higher.

They increased the number of rooms in their hotels by continuing to build higher. But they did not employ more people because they thought that adding rooms to their properties would mean easy money. And they could do more with less.

The service was never exceptional but now it was starting to get shoddy. The developers continued to have even bigger delusions on grandeur. They were no longer happy with creating five star properties, now they were promising to build even bigger and better hotels. They were speaking about six and seven star properties even if these did not really exist elsewhere. What they failed to realise was that the ancillary services and infrastructure needed to be just as good if it was to attract such a class of tourists.

Also, years of construction had taken its toll and word started to spread first among those who were nostalgic about the island and had visited year in year out and then from what was the vogue at the time — reviews on the internet.

No way the excess could be stopped once the havoc on society was unleashed

There was no way the excess could be stopped once the havoc on society was unleashed. The island did not have the necessary infrastructure nor the forward looking planners to put a stop to this madness.

The few who opposed this continuous development where called all sorts of names saying that they were against development and progress.

As long as the rulers and the developers continued to make money, they did not care much about the consequences of their actions. The residents were sold the dream that their properties were appreciating in value so they should thank these developers for making their dreams come true even if that meant huge sacrifices to allow the developments to take place.

Then one day in summer, when many people were on holiday, the rulers and the developers went one step too far. They proposed to build five towers that would forever change the face of the island. One of them in a part of the island that was most densely populated would be 38 storeys, four others in the centre of the island would ruin the views from the old capital city to the new capital city.

On an island where two people could not agree on anything, there was finally one thing that most islanders could agree on — and that this was utter madness.

There were lots of protests by a small group of people and many took to social media to vent their frustration. But nothing much happened because the decision had been taken and there was no way to overturn it. On an island where two people could not agree on anything, there was finally one thing that most islanders could agree on — and that this was utter madness. People not normally known for opposing the rulers of the day where making their voices heard that enough was enough.

Not much could be done other than hope that the banks would not support these risky developments. Because, these two towers were the prelude for more to come. In the space of less than 5 square kilometres and in an area with no green spaces, there were not one or two more projects to build higher but a good dozen.

This time the banks balked. They told the developers that they needed to put some skin in the game. They needed to finance a substantial part of the properties themselves. So the developers came up with a scheme to sell the properties they were building on plan. And like a Ponzi scheme, each pre-sale financed the next development.

But this time, the developers had aimed too high. And there were too many of them competing for the same pot of gold. While previously, they had gone to the market to raise money from common citizens through bond issues, sale of the properties and all, this time the islanders were so angry that they stopped to think a bit more than usual.

And what they realised was that they still had a bit of power in their hands. It would not be enough to reverse the decisions that had been taken but it could stop the projects for lack of financing. Because what these greedy developers were banking on was to raise money from the sale of these properties and from citizens who wanted to save their money in bond issues at attractive interest rates.

They realised that these towers, unlike the palaces that had been left by ancestors did not have an eternal lifespan and they would need to be knocked down within a number of years. So this time, fewer people wanted to take the risk to invest. That meant that the developers had to wait longer to raise their finances.

So the towers took much longer to build than had previously been anticipated. Instead of the projected three years, all the towers that had been planned in 2016 were still being built in 2030.

An economic downturn hit the island during this period and some of the towers had been left abandoned. Many small investors had lost their money but there was not much they could do because those who had planned these towers had limited their exposure.

In the meantime, for the first time in many years, the island experienced a drop in tourism. Tourists, who used to come to visit an island with pristine seas, an easy way of life and an escape from the chaos of their daily lives no longer found respite on the island. When they realised that they were leaving the chaos of their daily lives to replicate that and worse on holiday they decided to look for different havens of tranquility.

And so died the dream of the people who thought they lived at the centre of the world.