Residents of Threllfall are once again raising alarm over the deteriorating condition of a private access road that has remained compromised since a landslide in 2024, warning that continued erosion threatens lives, homes and millions of dollars in private property.

Residents say the damaged roadway has become increasingly hazardous and are calling on the Virgin Islands Government to intervene before the situation deteriorates further.

While the safety concerns are real, the issue has reignited a much broader debate over who bears responsibility for maintaining private infrastructure in the Virgin Islands—and whether taxpayers should be expected to fund repairs to privately owned roads and retaining walls.

A Private Road, Not a Public Highway

Unlike roads that form part of the Territory’s public road network, the Threllfall access road is understood to be privately owned and serves a private residential estate.

Across the Virgin Islands, numerous hillside developments were approved with private roads, drainage systems and engineered retaining walls constructed by developers to provide access to homes. Once completed, responsibility for maintaining those assets generally transfers to the owners who benefit from them, either individually or collectively through homeowners’ associations or other private arrangements.

The distinction is significant because public funds are intended primarily for public infrastructure that serves the Territory as a whole—not infrastructure that principally benefits a limited number of private property owners.

Retaining Walls Are Critical Engineering Structures

In a mountainous territory such as the Virgin Islands, retaining walls are not optional features. They are fundamental engineering structures designed to stabilise steep slopes created during construction.

When developers cut roads into hillsides or excavate building sites, they alter the natural stability of the terrain. Properly engineered retaining walls, drainage systems, slope reinforcement and geotechnical analysis are essential to preventing landslides and protecting neighbouring properties.

Civil engineers have long emphasised that poor drainage is one of the leading causes of retaining wall failure. Water pressure building behind a wall can dramatically reduce its structural integrity, making proper drainage just as important as the wall itself.

For that reason, retaining walls are generally considered part of the development’s permanent infrastructure and are ordinarily financed by the developer during construction and maintained by the property owners thereafter.

Failure to properly maintain these structures can place homes, utilities and access roads at significant risk.

Development Comes With Long-Term Responsibilities

The Threllfall situation also highlights an important reality of hillside development.

Purchasing property in a private estate often carries ongoing responsibilities beyond maintaining one’s individual home. Owners frequently share responsibility for roads, retaining walls, drainage systems, street lighting and other common infrastructure.

Those obligations are similar to those found in strata developments and gated communities throughout the Caribbean.

Property ownership therefore includes not only the benefits of exclusive access but also the costs associated with maintaining the infrastructure that makes those developments possible.

The Commission of Inquiry Changed the Rules

Calls for government intervention must also be viewed through the lens of governance reforms introduced following the 2022 Commission of Inquiry (COI).

One of the COI’s principal findings was that successive governments had, in some cases, blurred the line between public expenditure and political discretion, resulting in inadequate financial controls and spending decisions that were not always supported by clear legal authority or demonstrable public benefit.

The COI recommended sweeping reforms to strengthen transparency, accountability and value for money in the use of public resources.

Those recommendations have since been implemented through a Framework for Implementation of the Recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry and reinforced by the Virgin Islands’ Public Finance Management Act, Procurement Act and updated financial governance procedures.

Today, ministries and public officers are expected to demonstrate that any expenditure of public funds:

• has clear statutory authority;
• serves a legitimate public purpose;
• represents value for money;
• follows established procurement procedures; and
• can withstand independent audit and public scrutiny.

That higher standard makes it considerably more difficult for government to spend taxpayers’ money repairing privately owned roads or retaining walls unless there is a compelling legal basis for doing so.

A Dangerous Precedent?

Public policy experts have also cautioned that government assuming responsibility for one private development could create expectations across the Territory.

The Virgin Islands contains dozens of private hillside developments, many constructed with privately funded roads and retaining walls.

If government routinely financed repairs whenever those assets failed, taxpayers could ultimately become responsible for maintaining infrastructure built to support private developments—a liability that could amount to millions of dollars over time.

Such an approach would also raise questions of fairness for homeowners elsewhere who have privately funded repairs to retaining walls, drainage systems and access roads without government assistance.

Public Safety Remains Paramount

None of this diminishes the seriousness of the concerns expressed by Threllfall residents.

Should engineers determine that the failing road poses an imminent danger to life, neighbouring public infrastructure or essential services, government agencies have powers under various laws relating to disaster management, public safety and planning to take appropriate action to protect the public.

However, emergency measures should not be confused with permanent responsibility for privately owned infrastructure.

A Lesson for Future Development

The Threllfall dispute underscores the importance of rigorous planning standards in a territory where steep hillsides present unique engineering challenges.

Developers must ensure roads are designed to appropriate engineering standards, supported by professionally designed retaining walls and drainage systems capable of withstanding the Virgin Islands’ climate and topography.

Likewise, purchasers of homes in private developments should fully understand the long-term maintenance obligations attached to private roads and shared infrastructure before investing.

As Threllfall residents await a solution, the discussion has grown beyond one damaged road. It has become a test of the Territory’s post-COI commitment to fiscal responsibility, accountability and the principle that while public safety is everyone’s concern, responsibility for private infrastructure generally rests with those who own and benefit from it.