 The peer administration on November 1st decisively took the first step toward ensuring the exhaustive St. Jude Hospital reconstruction saga, which began some 13 years ago, reaches a state of completion with the welcomed resumption of works on the original construction site. I want to thank the staff of the St. Jude Hospital and the board of directors for guiding this process. But most of all, the unfortunate people who got sick and had to endure the conditions at the stadium. My heart bleeds for them, because the conditions at least at that stadium were not easy. And because, most of the time because of selfishness, we kept these people in that condition for six years. And I had to walk in these buildings this morning and I was saying to, that I went myself to see for myself. I'm not an engineer, I'm a professional engineer, but there is nothing that says that these buildings could not have been completed for years. There is absolutely nothing that says. It's a callous act for people to have left people in the conditions at the stadium just because you want to prove a point, but we're not proving any point. The only point we're proving is we are trying to improve the healthcare for the people of the south and giving them better conditions. That's the only point we have left. In the last eight months since his initial announcement on the continuation of works on the original construction site, Prime Minister Hon. Philip J. Pierre successfully coordinated the required human and capital resources across various government departments to reactivate the St. Jude Hospital Reconstruction Project, which was left to decay by the previous administration. As promised by Hon. Pierre, work on the original construction site, which is now teaming with construction crews, has finally resumed. We have started today with the phase one of the St. Jude Hospital Rehabilitation Project. Phase one includes the cleaning of the entire site, including all the buildings. It also includes the fumigation and anti-termite treatment that needs to be carried out because of the time that has elapsed since the buildings were not used. So today we have started with the east wing, we have started with the surgical building as well as power laundry and maintenance building. We are cleaning up the floors. That's the first step that we are doing and we are about seven subcontractors currently working here. There are 42 people in the crews that have started to work here today and this will continue for the next four months. The importance of employing a reliable and trustworthy oversight committee is not lost on the Pierre administration who has assembled a cohort of experts across the public and private sectors to ensure project deliverables are met on time and within budget. We expect to utilize the best practice of interministerial management and that includes close collaboration and active participation of the Ministry of Infrastructure who will lead on technical supervision as well as the Ministry of Health who you heard earlier would be responsible for activating our oversight mechanism and that is a broad-based steering committee which is made up of both public sector and private sector individuals. I think it speaks of a model of, as the Prime Minister always articulates, a model of transparency, accountability and best practice. St. Jude Hospital construction deviated in 2019. By 2021, less than two years later, more than 89 million taxpayer dollars was expended. However, St. Lucia's south was still no closer to having its own hospital. Pierre is committed to ending wastage of public resources. So in total, we possibly may have spent between 250 million and 300 million dollars when we are completed paying the debts on these two millions as they are. That is what the taxpayers of this country will have to go through and whereas I'm happy it hurts me because 300 million dollars later, the people of St. Lucia still have not got a hospital. But I can assure them and the Cabinet can assure them that in the shortest possible time, the people of the south of this country will be, not maybe, will be receiving healthcare in these St. Jude millions. Upon assuming office last July, Honourable Pierre requested a status report from the Ministry of Economic Development on the Phase II iteration of the St. Jude Hospital, which was commissioned by the previous administration. Phase II, or the new structure, was erected near the original construction site between 2019 and 2021, nearly three years after construction on Phase I, the original construction site was abandoned. Honourable Pierre has confirmed the Economic Development Ministry's report does not recommend proceeding with Phase II. From the Office of the Prime Minister, Rihanny Isidou.