“Critical” St. Jude Redevelopment Project to continue amid COVID-19 Fallout

Zero income from the tourism sector is expected by government for the next six months. Commenting on NTN on Monday evening on the fallout from COVID-19, Prime Minister Allen Chastanet predicted the end of August as the timeline for when tourists are expected to resume visiting Saint Lucia.  In the meantime the Ministry of Finance is working with the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, Caribbean Development Bank, World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, Chastanet said, in hopes of creating liquidity—cash to replace the loss of tax revenue.

He indicated that one of the topics already discussed was loans taken from the Taiwanese government. Specifically, an application has been made to re-use the loans to support the healthcare system and counter the income loss. The prime minister told host Lissa Joseph that this did not include the loan for the St. Jude Hospital Redevelopment Project. (Earlier this month, the government received parliamentary approval to borrow US$20 million for the project.) Said Chastanet on Monday: “The St. Jude hospital is a critical project and we must continue the construction and make sure we complete it as quickly as possible. It’s an essential service that we can’t do without.” 

Economic Development Minister Guy Joseph also spoke on the project. He said there were over 300 workers at the site in Vieux Fort.  However, operations had to be scaled down drastically to adhere to social distancing practices. Joseph indicated that in discussions with the contractors, it was brought to his attention that there was a lot of exposed material, such as steel and plywood on the site. The contractors asked whether within the next ten to fourteen days they would be permitted to proceed. 

Given the current state of the vital tourism industry, the minister said critical construction projects would likely go on, if properly monitored, and social distancing practices adhered to.