The permanent secretary in the Department of Infrastructure, Mr. Ivor Daniel, made no bones about it. Roads throughout the island have been poorly maintained for years, largely as a result of dwindling budgetary allocations. Weather conditions such as hurricane Thomas and the Christmas Eve trough, Daniel says, placed tremendous pressure on infrastructure. “It’s like we’ve won the lottery,” he said, referencing the $14 million budgetary allocation for road maintenance. The department requires approximately $26 million annually for routine maintenance.
“The minister for finance did not stop at $14 million,” Daniel went on. “He thought it necessary to give us a very substantial allocation. And I speak to US$42 million. We have termed this capital maintenance programme, the Road Improvement and Maintenance Programme Phase 4.”
Daniel says the programme is expected to improve roads from Gros Islet all the way to Saltibus, some 101.32 km of roads islandwide. His comments came during the official launch of the programme on the Saltibus playing field last Friday. In attendance were government ministers, the Taiwanese Foreign Minister Dr. Jaushieh Joseph Wu, and Ambassador Douglas Shen, as well as representatives from the Overseas Engineering & Construction Cooperation (OECC).
The project is financed by a loan from the Export–Import Bank of Taiwan and will be undertaken by OECC. Infrastructure Minister Stephenson King said the project will get underway “in the coming weeks” and will put an end to three decades of “requests, suffering, anticipation and hope”.
Prime Minister Allen Chastanet asked Saltibus residents not to think of the project as a road of comfort “but as a road of opportunity” that will change their lives forever. Highlighting other planned projects—the airport redevelopment, the Sab Wisha hotel, DSH, and the cruise port in Vieux Fort—Chastanet said: “You’re going to have cruise ship passengers now based in Vieux Fort who are going to want to go to Soufriere, and your job is to make sure you distract them from going to Soufriere as much as possible. So because of all of the attractions that are here in this constituency, we need to fix up the entire road network to make sure the taxi drivers can bring them to these facilities.”
Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Dr. Jaushieh Joseph Wu said that Taiwan was determined to be a force for good in the world and will continue to work with the island in whatever area it can. He referred to Prime Minister Chastanet as “a visionary”. He said: “Taiwan is very far away but we and Saint Lucia have been working very closely with each other, and we are very glad to able to work together with you. The purpose is very simple. Saint Lucia has been helping Taiwan as well. We have been having difficulties participating in WHO activities, and Saint Lucia’s prime minister and other government officials have been speaking out on behalf of Taiwan.”–
