The People’s Forum Town hall meeting in Newtown Feb. 20.Team Unity government ‘continues to put people development first’
From the press unit in the Office of the Prime Minister
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – Various projects and programmes currently being undertaken, as well as those that are scheduled for implementation throughout 2018 by the Team Unity government of St. Kitts and Nevis, were shared with citizens and residents of the country Feb. 20 during a town hall meeting at the Newtown Community Centre.
Tuesday’s meeting, the first in a series of scheduled town hall-styled meetings, saw presentations by Deputy Prime Minister the Honourable Shawn Richards; Minister of Public Infrastructure, Post, Urban Development and Transport the Hon. Ian Patches Liburd and Prime Minister the Honourable Dr. Timothy Harris.
The ministers updated the nation on the status of several capital projects, including the resurfacing of the island main road, improvements to the Old Road Bay Road, the housing programme and the construction of the second cruise pier at Port Zane. Liburd revealed that the final agreement with regard to the second cruise pier will be signed Feb. 26, paving the way for the mobilization of the construction phase in March.
“You are all invited to Port Zante,” he said.” We are going to have a public signing ceremony of the final agreement, which is the finance agreement, that will kick start finally the construction of a brand new cruise pier.”
During his presentation, Prime Minister Harris said in just three years his Team Unity government has successfully raised the country’s profile in areas such as information and communication technology (ICT) development and citizenship-by-investment standards.
On the most recent ICT Development Index (2017), St. Kitts and Nevis ranks No. 37 out of 176 countries listed. The only Caribbean country that ranks higher than St. Kitts and Nevis is Barbados, which comes in at No. 34 on the index.
“In 2017, in all the way in Russia, they rated us as the most innovative CBI programme in the world,” Harris said, referencing the Henley Passport Index – Global Ranking 2018. “Henley & Partners, experts in immigration and citizenship, in January 2018 said we are No. 1 in the world.”
Tuesday’s town hall meeting formed part of the commemorative activities for the third anniversary of the Team Unity administration’s election. The second town hall meeting in the series is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 27 at the Joshua Obadiah Williams Primary School in Molineux.
