 Mr Speaker, in the history of this parliament, and for the time that I've served as a parliamentarian, whether in the House of Assembly or in the Senate, never have I experienced the behaviour, the disrespect and the arrogance of those who believe that they're entitled. I have served from 1987. 1987. I took a hiatus, went into opposition, served in the Senate, and returned. And never, ever have I experienced the behaviour and the despotic style of this opposition leader, Mr Speaker. But Mr Speaker, it is really ashamed, it's really ashamed, that one who professed to be the Prime Minister in Wheaton cannot stand up at the moment in time to represent his people in this country in an appropriate manner. It's either he walks out or he stays away with the hope that he will not stand up before other persons and demanding the time that he speaks, Mr Speaker. We see it in Barbados, Mr Speaker, after the Finance Minister presents, that the leader of the opposition stands immediately and makes his presentation. In St. Kitts, it happens. In St. Vincent, it happens. And in Dominique, it happens. And this government here, in the last five years, as the Prime Minister indicated earlier, has always stood at that moment in time, ready to defend the cause of his people. But you see, Mr Speaker, they have no cause. They have no cause for being inside them, Mr Speaker. The only cause that they have is to remain in opposition and to lead a party that has gone astray and is about to flunder under his leadership. That is what it is. But, Mr Speaker, of course not, sir. But, Mr Speaker, we will move on. This government will move on to serve the people of this country with pride and dignity and respect to them all. Not stand in public and say, let the jacasses breathe. Leader will become here, games with the business of the people, then run to the media and the others and to attempt to condemn a government that has demonstrated its commitment to the cause of the people. But, Mr Speaker, having said this, let me move to the business of the people. First and foremost, Mr Speaker, I must indicate how proud I was yesterday when one of our soldiers showed up, even when he is in a difficult time, a difficult moment, a life-threatening time. He came and spoke at the right time. He didn't hide in his home under the guise. They are walking out again, Mr Speaker. He didn't stay at his home, Mr Speaker, under the guise of being sick. He said, I am coming. I am coming to back for the people. I need to do it. And he stood there gracefully delivering his message, even in that moment of time, at the moment of challenge. He came and he delivered. I want to commend him, Mr Speaker. These are the men and women who sit on this side. These are the men and women who are demonstrating what it is to represent people and to serve them with dignity and humility. These are the men and women on this side. Mr Speaker, but most of all, I must commend the Minister for Finance, the parliamentary representative for Cassaries East, for the spirit on essence, the soul of his delivery, the element and contents, and the ethos or philosophy of the estimates of revenue and expenditure for the fiscal year 2023-2024 as presented last Tuesday evening. And I'm reminded, Mr Speaker, of the words, well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. That's what came to mind when the member for Cassaries East delivered the estimates of expenditure on Tuesday. Mr Speaker, this good and faithful servant has not only been good over a few things, but rather he has been good over many things. And as such, he is deserving of being ruler of many more things as our servant leader of the people of St. Lucia. Mr Speaker, the spirit or essence of the budget as presented by the Minister of Finance is simply grounded in the philosophy of putting people first. Mr Speaker, the spirit or essence of the budget is one of fairness, fairness, Mr Speaker. One of wisdom, one of intelligence and sensibility in keeping with the mantra of putting people first and for the people and country. Mr Speaker, the element and content of the budget are those of consciousness, passion and conviction to the cause of the people. Throughout the budget, Mr Speaker, it is punctuated with narratives and anecdotes in response to the needs of the people, not a few, not friends, not family, the needs of the people who appointed this humble, good and faithful servant as their leader and Prime Minister. In there, Mr Speaker, in words, in figures and in deeds, Mr Speaker, good deeds that are not vindictive or malicious, respected, Mr Speaker, and wicked, repressive and wicked. Good deeds in response to the cry of the people of this country after six years in a government that was repressive and offensive and disrespectful. Mr Speaker, throughout the core of the budget, you can feel, see and hear the conscious response to the cause of the small and medium-sized businessmen and women. While the large and the established enterprises are assured of an enabling environment that allows them to thrive without devouring the small and the once hopeless, but now hopeful and aspiring partners in the economy. The budget, Mr Speaker, cadres are all to participate, to benefit and to evolve in a fair and enabling environment created by our humble servant. Mr Speaker, the farmers, the teachers, fire and police officers, nurses and doctors, health workers, in general, domestic workers, hospitality workers, the differently able, our social dependence, the age and the youth, Mr Speaker, the people of this country are being heard, they are being considered, and they are being given opportunities to partake and enjoy the fruits of thy labor, a government who cares. Well done, good and faithful servant. Mr Speaker, the ethos of the budget demonstrates that when the people empower men and women of God will, compassion, determination, fortitude and sincerity, the work of the people gets done without any victimization, vindictiveness and scandals. Mr Speaker, the people's work gets done in figures, words and indeed. Mr Speaker, the evidence in the figures presented and articulated by the Prime Minister, the Minister for Finance, in the various sectors of the economy speaks for themselves and points in one direction. To a Prime Minister who is hard-working, sincere, compassionate, honest, caring, attentive, not vindictive and one who is prudent, realistic and understanding in his work. Mr Speaker, permit me this opportunity to reflect on my earlier opening statements to give meaning, significance and to put into perspective this budget, the spirit and essence, the soul, the element and contents and the ethos and philosophy. Mr Speaker, the sincerity and intent of this budget isn't solely about the words crafted and uttered in the presentation of a speech by this Minister of Finance, but rather by the figures inscribed in the document called the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure 2023-24. That's what it is about. So when you hear all of the rhetoric about a speech wasn't disturbed, what was presented on Tuesday, Mr Speaker, was a motion, a motion which happens often in the Parliament. A motion which speaks to the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure just like any other motion, Mr Speaker, when any of the government minister can stand and present a motion and speak to that motion, no one has to circulate any of the notes or the document from which the presenter has made that presentation. But you see the attitude, the culture and the behaviour of that organisation now, Mr Speaker, is to go after personalities. So they must take your words and twist it. They must use social media and try to diminish who you are, your character and your integrity and your philosophy and what you stand for. It is about destroying people, destroying men and women of commitment and their family. So they need the document, Mr Speaker, to see how they can cheer into the Minister for Finance rather than look at the book which was given to them with all of the information. With all of the information, that is where it is. Not in the words that were crafted to present the budget. So they're making a big fuss because they want to be victims. They want to be victims of not being given an opportunity to speak. They want to be victims of not having received a copy of the document or the presentation. But, Mr Speaker, they will learn if they believe 26 July 2021 is anything. Wait until the next time. Wait until the next time. Mr Speaker, I beg for your indulgence. To reveal to you and this Honourable House what I discovered, not with a written copy of the Minister for Finance's speech, in my hand, but by listening attentively. Some of us can't listen attentively. We don't have that span of attention. No, he doesn't listen. If he was listening, he wouldn't be where he is now. Not with any narrative, Mr Speaker, but by listening attentively and navigating through the pages, page by page, department by department, head by head, section by section, and reading to understand the various program details in the estimates as we are all called to do in the management of the affairs of the people's business. Exercise due diligence. Mr Speaker, I will highlight a few of those. A few significant discoveries and they are as follows. Mr Speaker, in the estimates on the head 21, Office of the Prime Minister and I'll pose a question to the Prime Minister which I believe given the time will respond to. While it's examining the estimates I noticed that there was a variance, a positive variance of $746,001 in the trading vote which on a more critical examination appears to be funds transferred by the Ministry of Finance to the Prime Minister's office to clear some outstanding payments to a company called Ojo Labs under the National Apprenticeship Program. There is also, Mr Speaker, there is also, Mr Speaker, under that head an amount of $954,800 in variance on the grants and contributions for clearing of payments to Ojo Labs in 2022-2025. Mr Speaker, I am curious and hope that the Prime Minister in his rebuttal explains in detail explains in detail who, the people who appointed him through the representatives here in the House the details of this subject matter. I lay this case now. To explain I'm sure you understand what I'm saying. Good, thank you. However, Mr Speaker, on the brighter side of things on the brighter side of things and remember I said earlier on the spirit of the budget the ethos, the spirit, Mr Speaker, the essence of the budget the element, the contents, the ethos the philosophy of the budget is all surrounding the people all surrounding the people and so, Mr Speaker let us reflect on some of my findings of this people centric budget being undertaken by the good and faithful servant of the people. Mr Speaker I notice that there was a variance of sorry Mr Speaker under this Mr Speaker I notice there are a number of allocations made Mr Speaker to undertake and to improve on some undertake new initiatives and to improve on some. First one, public assistance Mr Speaker public assistance increased is being increased this financial year by 200% an increase of $600,000 that increase Mr Speaker is not for anybody out there who has interest and they have asked the government to help them pay something that Mr Speaker after the people of this country the poor people of this country $600,000 an additional $600,000 Mr Speaker for years this parliament for five years, six years in this parliament was blue-blue into believing that there was a distress fund every time the matter I was embarrassed sitting and knowing there's no distress fund but playing games playing games and saying there's a distress fund Mr Speaker it was very distressing it was disturbing but Mr Speaker guess what the good and faithful servant Mr Speaker has brought back the distress fund and this year and this year an additional $700,000 has been put towards the distress fund and you ask what are we doing what are we doing with the 29 what's in the 29 million surplus we're not giving it to anybody who don't deserve it certainly not but Mr Speaker moving on another one which I think we probably need to hear some more about is the National Printing Corporation rehabilitation of building 1.8 million for operation and maintenance $244,000 and building infrastructure $735,500 we need to know something Mr Speaker because all of a sudden the National Printing Corporation disappeared from the home on Jeremy Street then you heard talk of that building to be demolished the courthouse to be demolished the parliament to be demolished probably today we'd have been speaking on the market steps the people's parliament to be demolished Mr Speaker with no plan as to what will happen custody suite demolished so this was a demolition crew a demolition crew demolition crew with yellow hats that's what it was about before you know it is demolished that's why the party will be demolished soon so Mr Speaker one we need to hear the story of the National Printing Corporation who has removed out of their home to find other location with a promise of great things to happen building a new St. Lucia mash up everything and build a new St. Lucia and you tell me you want to profess to be that leader who will save this country yeah you know they have a way of calling people's names you know they tried to call me the snake we know where the first snake went to it the first one ended up on a hill on a hill looking down at the city but Mr Speaker if it took a snake to save this country I am indeed for it Mr Speaker also on the head 42 Ministry of Commerce we see an amount of one million dollars to the supply warehouse an increased subsidy on the grants and contributions where do you think that went to Mr Speaker to the people to the people then we move on Mr Speaker and I must indicate Mr Speaker I have never seen a government who has made pronouncements and have demonstrated that they're putting where their mouth is their money where their mouth is and what do we see happening in recent times in the last two years we feel an energy in the society people eager to do things for themselves exhibitions people being encouraged to use their hands and fend for themselves not only to sit back and to wait for government to give them handouts but they are you heard the minister yesterday when he spoke and he spoke about View Fort North and the things that they're doing View Fort North I want to go there to see what they're doing and I heard what Karnel Koko all this kind of thing I need to know the engineering of these kinds of delicacies because our people are being encouraged by the leaders on this side to get involved and so under that head Mr Speaker of Commerce there's a micro small and medium size enterprise an amount of 8.3 million dollars for local MSMEs to invest in or better secure financing business startup and expansion purposes yesterday I was having a chat with the parliamentary rep for Souffre and she was telling me of the positive responses so far towards that initiative of individual small business people coming in to register and to apply for the grant and loan program last night in my constituency my people were engaged in a tele-conference a video conference in preparation some 45 to 50 of them and what is amazing Mr Speaker that initiative in Castries North is being led by the young people young men and women who have stood up and said we want to help ourselves and later on I'll tell you what they're doing then you have on the Miss Elena's grants and contribution an increase in the subvention to export St. Lucia to build capacity and leverage St. Lucia manufacturers again Mr Speaker it's not about talk it's about action and it's a demonstration of commitment by putting our money where our mouths are that's what it is and also Mr Speaker as you read within the budget as you read along there's the empowerment of students and youth through various programs some 65,000 dollars put there for the young people and that amount Mr Speaker will help them those who are into IT and other businesses will help them to prepare them to empower those students the knowledge and skills to develop and enhance innovative and creative businesses business ideas that is it Mr Speaker that is what this government does seeing about the welfare of its people the people of this country who have for years been asking do something for us we need to have the support in moving forward and participating in an economy no longer Mr Speaker should we sit back, relax and wait for people to come and say the investing for our people and they take more than they give to our people that's what happens and there's some of them who come with grand ideas sweet talk and fancy talk by the time you look at what they're presenting to you you believe that you have a city in view fought like Dubai with 28 islands 28 with no money in their pocket that is not what we want to develop Mr Speaker we want to develop a country of individuals who are productive who are innovative who are prepared to put their small coins together like Ms Kazeme who put $350 together to get the calls etc we got the story yesterday but to build on that and to move beyond the domestic economy and to export to other countries and to have the foreign exchange to build St. Lucifer ourselves that is what this government is about not believing that only because of color you can walk in with an empty briefcase in your hand and you'll get everything that you want that's not it Mr Speaker and so Mr Speaker let me indulge further into some more good and faithful deeds by thy good and faithful servant and by this government Mr Speaker it's amazing it's heart-wrenching when you go through those estimates and you see what's in there on the grants and contribution and I appeal to those opposite who probably didn't have the time to read and to understand I appeal to them to go through the estimates on the grants and contribution and look what this government has done this government has said we need to give assistance we need to give a helping hand to those persons most in need and what do we have? Farmers with disability an initial grant of $10,000 one may say what's $10,000 but they had nothing before we're saying $10,000 to start with the St. Lucia Cadet Corps an increase in the allocation of $20,000 and the list goes on the Junior Achievers Program an increase of $20,000 the Natta School an increase of $20,000 that is a government that is caring a government that understands the plight of the people and a government that is determined and committed to the cause that we have ahead of us then you look at Special Education Center in Souffre, Mr. Speaker and the member for Souffre has just walked in $25,000 increase then you look at the Lady Gordon School an increase of $25,000 Mr. Speaker, I'm going to spend time and run through this list because people need to know the things that we are doing for the people who I need in this country not the greedy, the needy because many times it's the greedy ones who benefit on the other side we are talking about and we are committed to the needy the School for the Blind an additional $25,000 rise St. Lucia $20,000 feed the poor $20,000 St. Lucia Red Cross $20,000 all of these are increases Mr. Speaker increases these are not short term grants these are increases they are already receiving we are saying we acknowledge the work you are doing we appreciate what you are doing we appreciate your cause yes, well the National Trust that's the biggest one can you imagine Mr. Speaker in case you didn't know can you imagine that this guy which one? the one who is here because of your own insensitivity your wickedness your desire for yourself and your friends you withdrew you withdrew the subvention of the National Trust just because the National Trust for the purpose it was established to guard the heritage of this country to ensure that persons own squander the heritage of this country preserve it and protect it and ensure that it is left to the use of the people because they stood the ground on the national issue you withdrew the subvention you withdrew the subvention from the time it was swung they have been getting it so you withdrew it this government has reintroduced $700,000 to the Rook of the National Trust boy he's spinning like a fan spinning like a fan because if Sir John was alive and this charade was going on with his party he would have been so annoyed he would have been so annoyed it's a pathunble thanks for the support and so Mr. Speaker we move on to the National Council for Disabilities an increase of $20,000 Adelaide's home they already received $90,000 children's home in Cicero now at Rodney Bay an additional $20,000 and the list goes on View for Children's Home all of them $25,000 Merriam Home Increase $25,000 St. Lucie's Home $25,000 Mr. Speaker this government understands that we cannot do everything on our own we have those organizations supporters and to help the country in those sectors that we cannot interfere with that's what it is about Sir Connor Stone Cerebral Palsy Association Childhood Development and Guidance Center all of them the Diabetic and Hypertensive Association and the St. Lucie Autistic Society who never received before and today this government has decided to give them $20,000 to continue their work Mr. Speaker this is the government I'm speaking about a government that is caring a government that feels it and knows it and responds to the call of the people not one of vindictiveness not one of vindictiveness so Mr. Speaker I may come back I may come back but let me turn quickly to the department of infrastructure ports, transport and including energy and to scan through the estimates of expenditure for the department we have the recurrent expenditure of $53,529,700 capital expenditure $170,235,500 a total expenditure for the agency $170,762,200 Mr. Speaker these estimates of expenditure are expected to meet the urgent maintenance needs of our roads and bridges and other public infrastructure Mr. Speaker this is very important and I believe Mr. Speaker every politician who has served in government or in opposition should have a conscience of understanding the needs of the country as far as infrastructure is concerned but also when you have served in government and you believe that you understand the finances how the economy works and managing budgets etc etc to understand that there are times when you want to do everything under the sun but it's not possible all at once and to behave as if where you came from recently that there were streets of gold and glass and marble and all of a sudden it changed and their potholes and it's the worst roads and so you're only in the media every day making all sorts of fun of the government Mr. Speaker this government is committed to maintaining our infrastructure and you know it was unfortunate last year Mr. Speaker and you know they love when you make statements and speak about the importance of science you know the impact of climate on infrastructure they make a big thing about it science and as if to ridicule but Mr. Speaker science dictates everything in our lives science it dictates everything and science doesn't necessarily mean all the fancy things the simplest things the science of knowing when and what applications to use and how to implement it and to execute the job and so Mr. Speaker the Ministry of Infrastructure understands the impact and challenges by climate change and increased rainfalls and intensity of rainfalls we've received in the last year and this year we're not too sure what will happen but I've already spoken to the Prime Minister the Minister for Finance and one of the one of the actions I would like him to undertake this year is to alter the cycle of allocations to the Ministry of Infrastructure to allow us to have that money upfront immediately after the passage of the budget because Mr. Speaker if you want to really take care of your infrastructure and serve it and to do it properly and not waste money you have to do it in the dry season not in the rain do not wait until June, July and August and then the rains come down you have those people in the United States who are involved in infrastructure work or in construction housing construction there are certain times when they get the building and they know when winter comes then they are inside and continue their work so Mr. Speaker St. Lucia's public infrastructure continues to be severely challenged by climate change as I've said and we will respond adequately in this financial year Mr. Speaker it is our intention to forge ahead with ongoing critical capital projects which include the Millennium Highway and West Coast Road project and in addition a greater first will be engendered to attain our goal in energy independence by pursuing geothermal exploration through the renewable energy sector development program Mr. Speaker and I'll say something a little more later the Millennium West Coast Highway the Millennium Highway particularly was constructed sometime between 1995 and 1997 ever since it has not received any major attention in terms of maintenance etc it has been a problematic road ever since the Government of the United Kingdom in 2015 through former Prime Minister Kenny Anthony was able to assist us with a grant of 43 million pounds to undertake the reconstruction of the Millennium Highway and the West Coast Road it was signed in 2019 there about and that project is underway and many of you would know I need not go again into the details of that project we are slowly making some progress and I'm hoping that soon the Millennium Highway will be completed in a few months because the deadline date has gone let it go and complete and connect with the Japanese finance bridge and then for the balance of the work Mr. Speaker that project would start from the cul-de-sac bridge is costing some 43 million US dollars the project Mr. Speaker transcends three administrations as I said originally negotiated in 2015 by former Prime Minister and Minister of the Air Force South on behalf of CARICOM member countries of which St. Lucia is a part of commenced during the last administration of which I was the Minister for Infrastructure and now being completed by this administration of which the Prime Minister was then Minister for Infrastructure in 2015 three administrations and I recall Mr. Speaker I had to really put some extra effort to make sure that we continued with this project because I felt we could not have let it down at the time Mr. Speaker the objectives of this project is to reconstruct and improve the condition of the Millennium Highway or comprising 6.2 kilometers then you have 24.6 kilometers West Coast Road Primary Road Network Anslery to Colombert in Souffre and that includes a new bridge in Anslery it will also significantly increase the level of road safety associated with this roadway for which a comprehensive road safety program has been prepared and will be instituted Mr. Speaker so far on this segment of the road what we call Lot 2 a contractor has been appointed and we are hoping that construction in fact there has been a timeline a schedule given for construction to commence in the months of April and May the contractor which has been who won the bid for that component of the road is a Trinidadian firm of much experience and they will be doing Lot 2 and 3 which is Colisac to Anslery and Anslery to Colombert and a local contractor will be doing the Anslery bridge this Mr. Speaker I hope will bring this project in time and to completion within budget as I said Mr. Speaker the reconstruction of the bridge in Colisac that bridge Mr. Speaker is ready the Japanese built the bridge Mr. Speaker the bridge its design is intended to improve the hydraulics of the Colisac river to allow for greater flow within the basin and to eliminate the paralysis which is cause anytime you've got any extreme weather condition with heavy rainfall where economically and socially the country's paralyzed once you live south of the morning or east of the Badlil that bridge Mr. Speaker hopefully by the design and the retraining of the river which will come through with the building of bones etc that Colisac basin Mr. Speaker is likely to resolve that Colisac bridge and the works to be done is likely to resolve the issues experience in the Colisac region Mr. Speaker a number of our members over the last two days rose and certainly presented themselves requesting roads to be fixed and I interface with them on a daily basis I see the member for Denry Knopf raising his hands and I guess he's trying to touch Austin Hill wherever it is but we respond and we respond you know within with the understanding that we have a commitment a commitment to serve a commitment to deliver commitment to respond to the people sometimes Mr. Speaker you know the beautiful thing about this government and I must admit without reservation it's the passion the commitment and the love that exists among members who show understanding who are already to assist and who show compassion Mr. Speaker that is encouraging and even when I say to them boy we don't have much in a week and I'm trying to sometimes you know protect the prime minister because I understand what it is to be prime minister when you have minister after minister coming and saying that their program is the most important program for the government and he has to balance that budget and to make a decision so sometimes I try to protect the prime minister because I know what it is to manage a fiscal you know I know what it is but Mr. Speaker we have put together a program for this year based on the resources which has been made available to us and the program includes works comprising slope stabilization reconstruction and rehabilitation of roads bridges and culverts and certainly what we call water cost maintenance which is what used to be called desilting and I'm happy we have termed it water cost maintenance because many times you know there are people who believe that there is some magic about desilting and I'm not to show who seem to have planted that seed in making people believe desilting is about making money so as soon the rain fall down you show your face on the side and then you call an excavator and you desilve, you're making money it's known for that so Mr. Speaker this here water cost maintenance there is an allocation of 4 million dollars and it will not just include going in and desilting the river the rivers are not really supposed to be desilting because and I'm sure the member for January south will speak eloquently on this matter in that you don't go and destroy the ecosystem you don't destroy the velocity what you call the velocity and the river ecology you don't go and destroy that the hydraulics of the river you need to maintain because as you desilve Mr. Speaker what you do you give that river a greater flow and a capacity that is intensified hence the reason sometimes we have so much flooding in the lower plains if you're able to return that compounded Mr. Speaker with the development that is taking place in the hillside of rooftops there's number of rooftops coming in and there's no rain water harvesting etc etc and that is an area we need to discuss Minister for Agriculture in terms of coming with a kind of symbiosis symbiotic relationship that will look at rain water harvesting the whole question of management of the watershed the river banks and being able to manage the river banks and for infrastructure to be able to do the little that we can do to improve on our rivers so four million dollars Mr. Speaker and very soon we will be looking at the respective areas to respond to this certain we have in so and we have a schedule of the eight zones well it's more eight it's more ten than eight because you have in zone eight alone zone A, B and C so we have a program already scheduled and so if the Prime Minister delivers to the Ministry of Infrastructure as he delivered to the Parliamentary representative for Babano we should be able to start very soon we should be able to start very soon Mr. Speaker we have also Mr. Speaker slope stabilization and we have ongoing works of the reconstruction of the retaining wall near the streams of Powertut a very treacherous landslide there that work is going on we have work to to do at months retaining wall reconstruction then retaining wall and retaining walls in a number of zones from one to eight totaling 2.5 million dollars also Mr. Speaker reconstruction and rehabilitation meaning and maintenance of roads etc which is very important it is really important for us to maintain those roads we have to do some other works we have the Mokani wall we have the Union River wall we have bodily slope stabilization Queensland road rehabilitation we have some retention for there and also we have work to be done at Austin Hill well that's not on the rehabilitation that's reconstruction then you have new works along the East Coast Highway Mr. Speaker some 2 million dollars will be spent on the East Coast Highway and what the East Coast Highway calls for at this time is proper management until our resources are available for reconstruction so while we focus on the West Coast to reconstruct the West Coast we need to maintain the East Coast properly to make sure that we preempt any kind of deterioration of the carriageway so some 2 million dollars has been allocated Mr. Speaker to deal with the West Coast Highway also Mr. Speaker the East Coast Highway also Mr. Speaker we have roads requiring intervention in various zones as prioritized 1.1 2 5 million dollars has been put aside in Kuldisak we spoke about outstanding works in VG Colvert shop bridge for those of us who are observant as you drive the shop bridge Mr. Speaker you notice there is a dip so what has happened Mr. Speaker you have 10 minutes left and you have another Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker I want to invoke standing order 421 in order to allow the member for castries north an additional hour within which to complete his presentation I now put a question as many as of that opinion say aye as many as of a country opinion say no I think the ayes have it the ayes have it leave is granted Mr. Speaker I want to invoke standing order 421 in order to allow the member for castries north an additional 1 hour in which to complete his presentation leave is granted thank you very much Mr. Speaker and I want to thank members for their graciousness Mr. Speaker so while the allocation of these estimates are not meant to undertake major project Mr. Speaker we are mindful of the need to fix those bridges and as I said the shop bridge is one for those of you observant there is a dip as you drive along on the shop bridge which really is an old an old failed culvert well not failed but failing culvert ever since Hurricane Thomas when it occurred work was done but I think the stress of that bridge now it's calling for a new bridge and work will be done to preserve what is existing now because what has happened the amco pipes as we call them have sort of sunk a bit and the engineers believe that we can strengthen the the floor of the bridge or the ceiling of the amco pipes by putting in sections of new amco which will hold on for a little while will continue Mr. Speaker we also have got some work to do on the the Pualem bridge which has been given a little problem over the years we have seen some action taking place there so based on our road maintenance management system unit they have been able to detect that bridge as a bridge that needs intervention ahead of any calamity you have got Mr. Speaker the Denry main bridge the Bosque door bridge Black Bay bridge all of these bridges Mr. Speaker will receive some maintenance work just to ensure that we preempt anything that is likely to happen Mr. Speaker I spoke of some of the other areas I have spoken about the slope stabilization the bridges and culverts Austin Hill Mr. Speaker started $750,000 has been allocated to meet the cost of this much needed rehabilitation of that bridge and I am sure the member for Denry North is quite happy because a commitment has been made and work will certainly be done on that bridge then you have the rehabilitation of roads which I have spoken about the desertion of rivers as we said it is water cost maintenance of $4 million the maintenance of government buildings Mr. Speaker that that Mr. Speaker is one which needs going forward some serious consideration many of our government buildings Mr. Speaker these are the buildings maintained by the Department of Infrastructure are under stress some of them are old modern 50 years there are those who have been around since the fire and it is not that the integrity of the building is bad it is the maintenance of the building that routine maintenance to keep those buildings looking good and dealing with whatever stresses that may come about and to ensure you extend the life of the building Mr. Speaker $1.68 million is the rental allocation given I am hoping that next year we can increase that so that we can have some preemptive measures taken preventative measures and preemptive measures taken to avoid what we see the decay that is happening Mr. Speaker this Mr. Speaker will allow the government to move away from renting property and spending millions and millions and millions of dollars in rental of property Mr. Speaker the government is attempting to decipher a commitment to the diamond to deal with it because of the further strain it will put on the government's post Mr. Speaker we need to look at the assets that we own attempt to rehabilitate them and maintain them and we can continue to occupy those buildings this building Mr. Speaker we are in when it was mentioned that it would be destructed it would be demolished when the engineers came the report said that this building is structurally sound the integrity is good structurally sound when the health and safety people came in they said all the building needs is continuous maintenance there is nothing wrong I can present one of these days so if we do this to all of our buildings put in the resources invest in the maintenance of the buildings make sure there is a regime of maintenance a routine maintenance program we can preserve the building it's about the health of the building buildings are like ourselves if we don't maintain ourselves we'll fall down one day but if you maintain the buildings they'll stand up the other thing Mr. Speaker I have mandated the ministry Mr. Speaker to look into this business of move we are running away from mold Mr. Speaker but as we run we are carrying mold with us we are taking mold from one building to the next in the books in the documentation in the furniture as you move you carry the mold with you so we now Mr. Speaker in the Ministry of Infrastructure have decided then to conduct an exercise to develop a plan of action a scientific plan of addressing the issue of mold so that we can address it in an informed manner that Mr. Speaker we are committed to do and then Mr. Speaker the caretaker maintenance program of which $1.6 million has been allocated this Mr. Speaker is good this will allow us to continue to maintain our roadsides and the environment etc etc but I still believe Mr. Speaker we need as a tourism destination we need to invest some more money into maintaining our environment we definitely need to do this we cannot do it sporadically we have to do it systematically it has to be routine so that we manicure our environment we plant the flowers we beautify we clean the vegetation we trim our trees we open up the vistas of the sea and the environment so that people who come will find it encouraging and attractive to navigate around the landscape of our country when a tourist lands Mr. Speaker our environment should engage them our environment should engage them they should be speaking to the environment not realising they are spending an hour and a half on the road that is the kind of thing we need to do Mr. Speaker also Mr. Speaker yes we have to do it we have to encourage it we have to take the lead on this matter also Mr. Speaker and we can do it constituency by constituency Mr. Speaker in these estimates the National Utilities Regulatory Commission which was established to regulate utilities water and electricity particularly that organisation has been operating for some time and every year because of the fact Mr. Speaker at this time the only utility that seemed to be under the rubric of the National Utilities Regulatory Commission the nook is WASCO so the revenue from WASCO as its contribution towards the operations of the nook is not sufficient to manage the nook is not sufficient to give it the leadership that it needs along with the supporting staff technical staff to undertake the work of the nook plus the training that is required by an ordinary organisation where you can put anybody in there the members of the nook those who are on the board of the nook those members those members Mr. Speaker are called to train every year those members have to attend training to understand the regulatory system so that the decisions are informed decisions and not decisions that are taken based on emotion that is why Mr. Speaker the nook according to the legislation is structured to ensure that it is not politicised that you don't keep changing it every time a government comes in but it is preserved but we know what happened the last time and I'm proud that on this occasion Mr. Speaker the nook has continued and we have been able to strengthen it however Mr. Speaker because of the work which we have done in as far as the renewable energy sector we are now on the home stretch as far as the legislation is concerned the new electricity act the act has been drafted and it has gone through much discussion and next week there about we will commence some consultations first with the technical team that these are further consultations of course as we go down the home stretch with the nook the energy unit the department of infrastructure with Looslet and other interested parties commencement of the discussions will move on continuation rather of the discussions will commence then in preparation to have final public consultations before the legislative draft bill is brought to parliament and for passage into law Mr. Speaker I'm very excited I have one colleague of mine who keeps harassing me in a good way positive harassment not negative harassment the parliamentary rep for Soufre constantly speaks to me about the activities of the energy unit and time for us to get this bill through which will allow the environment to be to be opened up to demon up allies to a certain extent if you want to use that term to demon up allies the environment to allow businesses to get involved to be able to produce their own energy whether it's through solar the sun whether it's through wind or even rain or water the sea, wind tech and ocean tech all of these Mr. Speaker are possibilities and opportunities for the business community and we have some business people in this country Mr. Speaker who are very excited about it and who are ready to move in fact they're ready to bolt we've got some one or two of our large companies you have the Winward and Leeward Brewery who have got a plan moving into renewable energy you have the Ferris dairy they are very much ahead KFC a number of those companies Mr. Speaker are all in are all on the block ready to take off to participate in the new renewable energy program under the new electricity electricity act also Mr. Speaker not too long ago we launched the renewable energy sector development program which is really the geothermal program and this is in my view the first, second, third, maybe fourth phase of a program started as far back as the 70s when the first well was drilled at the Sulphur Springs all the way then in an attempt to see whether there is an opportunity and there is capacity to generate electricity out of geothermal that exercise Mr. Speaker wasn't a failed exercise but it didn't get the answers that we thought that was necessary to continue to explore in fact in some instances even the drilling equipment was compromised and so later on we then went ahead the government of St. Lucia then went ahead and continued the program and after those sort of preliminary investigations there seemed to be signs of greater capacity and intensity of what exists beneath the ground Mr. Speaker with the advent of new equipment and the advancement of technology there is the opportunity now for swim hole drilling which will not necessarily cause much destruction and which doesn't have to be done in the area where the steam is coming from so whereas in the minds of many people that the steam and the capacity of that is down below the surface springs it doesn't necessarily mean that's where you have to drill and probably the vein beneath the surface is in a location that is far from the actual surface springs and so we have demarcated Mr. Speaker an area which in the policy statement I'll give greater detail an area which includes parts of saltibus and other areas for Saint Jacques other areas within the Souffre region some of which we have to ensure that we do not encroach on the piton management site and that we are very conscious of we are hoping Mr. Speaker with this we will see an improvement one in the ability to generate electricity away from fossil fuels an opportunity to allow independent power producers to produce to themselves to feed into the grid and to be able to not just serve themselves but to be able to sell back to the electricity company and to be able to see this as a profitable business Mr. Speaker in all of this one of the things that we are careful about and must ensure that we protect is that while we speak about renewable energy and energy independence we have to also remind ourselves that there is always a need to have a fallback mechanism and the fallback mechanism is your ability in case of anything in case we have as someone said to me the other day that she was told that we will have seven days of darkness and if ever that happens Mr. Speaker in this country of seven days of darkness and we were to move away from fossil fuel entirely into solar then we totally will be totally that so we have to have an approach that allows a balance that allows the public to generate its own electricity but at the same time to know that there is a resource we can fall back on but that resource must be maintained and so in the regime that we put in place Mr. Speaker in the billing system the licensing system and the level of investment while we want to increase the production capacity at the domestic level as to what you can produce at your home on your rooftop five kilowatts and in the commercial sector 25 kilowatts we are hoping that this will increase obviously to allow for the industrial sector and the commercial sector to produce more than 25 kilowatts and to allow persons in the domestic environment to be able to produce a little more so that their contribution to their electricity bill can offset quite a bit and to save some money to be able to move forward Mr. Speaker these are some of the major issues as far as the infrastructure is concerned as far as the estimates of expenditure I will elaborate Mr. Speaker on more policy matters when we speak at the next debate policy matters in terms of how do we see infrastructure moving forward and I can announce here Mr. Speaker this year we will be launching what I call the infrastructure plan which is called infrastructure 2030 and what that is in a nutshell Mr. Speaker is really looking ahead way down the road to ask ourselves what will we need in our infrastructure environment what sort of infrastructure that we'll need not just roads and bridges and culverts and drains etc etc and responding after the fact to land slippage and all the rest of it but what will we need what infrastructure do we need to underpin tourism what infrastructure do we need to underpin health and education and the other sectors manufacturing what sort of infrastructure in public utilities electricity water telecommunications all of these all of these comprise the environment of infrastructure to enable the economy to be able to move on and to be able to produce and to see the growth of this country in a meaningful way and infrastructure 2030 will look at all of those things in water electricity telephone telecommunications IT etc and to begin to put a plan together that will say this is where we are likely to go and one example of this Mr. Speaker we have been speaking about a road called North South Link Road from Rosalind to to expedite and to intensify the movement of people from Rosalind to view for but again Mr. Speaker we need to yes Mr. Speaker oh I saw your lights on Mr. Speaker sorry I'm taking your role so we need to decide Mr. Speaker to understand, we have to understand if that road is built Mr. Speaker what is the infrastructure what will be the infrastructure necessary in terms of roads in terms of sewer in terms of of electricity telecommunications what sort of businesses will be there so this Mr. Speaker will allow the government to plan and also will allow the private sector to plan and certainly will be an attraction to investors who will want to come to Central Russia knowing that we have a plan for infrastructure and so they can bring in their businesses into the country and the infrastructure of the country will be able to maintain them now Mr. Speaker I want to move quickly into my constituency or to the constituency of Castries North and to speak on a few a few issues or a few initiatives that we believe will help the constituency move forward Mr. Speaker for some time now I have been speaking about the necessity of Castries North to begin to look inwardly and to see what we can do with the capacity that we have in the constituency as we speak Mr. Speaker the intention is to bring to fruition incomplete ongoing and new initiatives throughout the constituency that will further bolster the constituency towards attaining the full status of a municipality and this is not this is not to mean that we are ceding from anything we believe that Castries North has the environment the social and economic environment to be able to be declared as a borough if we want to go down that way and I think it's timely at this time because we're looking at the whole issue of the review of the local government authorities whether we're going to a borough or whether we're going to go to a local authority to be able to collect our taxes to be able to maintain our infrastructure to be able to maintain our environment and to be able to keep the constituency in a way that we are proud of I believe the Castries constituency council has been doing a good job they have been certainly helping out in many ways but you know the people of Castries North think of themselves as being independent people that they want to do for themselves they don't want to go through conduits to get to the next stop they want to do for themselves and so we believe that this year will be a year when we will be advocating the need for us to look at Castries North and to see how we can work with the local government authority and to determine like every other constituency so we're not rebels or renegades we're trying to get that status like every other constituency Meku North and then we South and Sofra and the others we want to be able to manage our own affairs and to do it well so hopefully Mr. Speaker will be able to get to there there are a number of incomplete projects Mr. Speaker in Castries North that we need to complete and we're hoping we can continue the number of them we were able to address in the last financial year and the one before in BZ for example Mr. Speaker for some time now we have been looking at the completion or rather the completion of a multiple-purpose scot and the BZ Walk Children's Playground which was done some years ago and got destroyed and now get back there and to get it done for the community we're also hoping that we'll find some land I cannot promise that we'll do it this year that's land for the construction of an HRDC in that area if not I may have to speak to the Minister for Investment who has some properties in that area and hope that he can make one of those properties available to the community of BZ to be transformed into an HRDC and if that is done Mr. Speaker we have started some collaboration with one of our prominent sons of the country who are involved in theatre etc etc and so not only will we be able to one capitalize on the existing NSDC which we welcome and we hope we'll stay in Castries North but we'll be able to give them a place to meet, a place to have discussions and a place to be able to get engaged in creative activity be it in theatre or otherwise Mr. Speaker for some time now we have been speaking about the Kyrie Park we've come along with that park it's a beautiful park and we welcome the many who come from outside to use the park once they don't interfere with the environment and don't interfere with the community I see one of my constituents sitting in the gallery who knows what I'm talking about because he's just next door so we will this year Mr. Speaker attempt to complete the park and I must thank the minister for investment who has expressed an interest in assisting us one way or the other to see whether we can complete this facility he said senior minister you need to finish this facility and I welcome this and I'm hoping that with CDP and of course his support we'll be able to do the little things which I'm anticipating requested the final costings so that we can complete it we have already received a new children's play set for the park in fact we ordered it and didn't realize it was such a big big bit of equipment in fact when it is installed I suspect it's going to be the biggest on the island because what we have there now the space is not adequate we have to try and facilitate the implementation of that facility so we'll proceed Mr. Speaker this year to do this we are to now put in the lighting system on the court next door and to look at the other amenities to complete this project and hopefully to have a nice grand opening at some stage the minister for investment tourism has asked me to consider the return of jazz at Karely and I'm seriously thinking of it no matter what it is to do something and to have the jazz at Karely and I've already advised the chairman the proposed chairman the one who have identified will head the committee to for us to speak and to discuss it as we engage in the initiative in Agad Mr. Speaker and I must say something Mr. Speaker the sports ground at Agad and you know Castries North and that is to underscore the point I made earlier on about the independence of Castries North all of the sports facilities in Castries North Mr. Speaker would develop almost without the support of the department of youth and sports almost without and it's not about this current minister it's about from times when I got into into office Mr. Speaker in 1987 the only existing sports facility in Castries North was the Loclery Plainview that was it, nowhere else we have been able to find little locations and to put in little facilities Agad is one of those we found those private property who were about to construct homes and built a small plane field in Bapatat we did the same thing we built a small plane field we're looking at as I said Bise earlier on we did something currently we did what we had to do in Chase Gardens the same thing happened the quiet land and did this all of these were done Mr. Speaker almost single-handedly using the support of private sector and others who came forward the Taiwanese particularly to help us in that regard and so Agad Mr. Speaker will now be going into the third phase of development the first phase was to cut the land and develop it the second phase was to redo the surface and put the lights as we have had and now the rather the third phase now is to implement the fencing and retaining structures to secure and protect the facility one thing I must indicate Mr. Speaker that if you want to have any sporting event at Agad's Mr. Speaker the whole community comes out the whole community La Claree which is really who used to be the mecca of football the VBCC and all the rest of it the institution of clubs in St. Lucia the only club with its own building it owns the building there's no other club in this country who owns it have its own clubhouse La Claree has its own clubhouse but the playing field right there the mecca of football and cricket Mr. Speaker Stan Philip outstanding footballer Mr. Speaker you have a very positive La Claree football league but when you have football you have tournaments going up you don't see the crowds that you used to see in the past Agad you see them coming out and facilitating in Boapatat they come out and they're there participating so we will fence the Agad playing field the Agad playing field the La Claree playing field of course Mr. Speaker the great project we're going into phase 3 we have done the fencing we have done the surface we have put in some lights some of it has the lights have been failing and the minister for sports has indicated that he's committed to putting in a new set of lights for that facility La Claree playing field to match the others I wouldn't be able to match the denry south facility they have state-of-the-art and I'm not too sure which other but certainly we're trying to see what we can do the Chase Gardens multipurpose caught Mr. Speaker the refurbishment to a certain extent the second phase has been completed with new lighting systems and we're hoping Mr. Speaker that we will now go to the next phase and to look at the improvement of the seating accommodation change room and of course we're doing the surface by putting in some rubberized surface the Bapatat multipurpose caught Mr. Speaker was implemented one year ago that is the upgrade or rather I should say the improvement a year ago and this year phase 2 will be considered to include upgraded to the plain surface installation of basketball backboards goals, small goals, seating and washroom facilities in addition Mr. Speaker the government has just concluded the acquisition of a property next to the Bapatat multipurpose facility and that is for the construction of a long-awaited center consultations will commence very soon with the community so as to determine the design concept and of course the development of the facility that will be established in that area Mr. Speaker there is one community that I owe I owe and that is for the construction of an HRDC and that is SunBuild as far back as 2011 a promise was made to the community to build a an HRDC it's a difficult location based on the topography of the land we looked at the number of years and finally some time ago we came up with a design though accepted on second thought I went against it because what was being proposed was to build a facility again because of the terrain to have the the center, the hall downstairs and the court on the upstairs those don't work well the leak we have not mastered the art of building concrete to the extent of being able to withstand the pressure of our young men jumping and running on those facilities so we have now entered into negotiations Mr. Speaker with the sisters of Clooney the nuns of St. Joseph's Convent who own some property not too far away and we are having a good discussion and I believe we are arriving at some kind of compromise of one taking over the lower court of the convent which is on the main road to get over as a public court and developing a new court which they have started promoting and raising funds and we have committed 100,000 dollars to them to build that netball court and basketball court on the upper level closer to the field that has greater security and that project will start this year and the administrators have already agreed we will inquish in the lower court for the community so as to have and I speak of that court because cedars and sunbills are close by so the lower court will be for cedars and the upper court will be with the HRDC will be for for sunbills we also have coming up Mr. Speaker Land already identified for children's playground in Armondale they call it Armondale Cove the Union Forestry we also have the Leclerc Children's Playground hopefully to come we are looking now Mr. Speaker with a greater project we are looking at probably converting the Leclerc Square eventually into a children's playground and with the hope that we will have a Suburban Business Center to be established in the old Leclerc CDC area it is a kind, it is what I call a business center that an intermediary business center which means that it will circumvent the need to either go into the congested city or to face the traffic along the Castries-Grosley Highway to go to Rodney Bay for business it is necessary at this time Mr. Speaker and the purpose of which I personally decided that we should not proceed with housing where the houses go formally is because the Clery has the main center of Castries-North the main center of business over the years has been surrounded with development taking place one of the biggest developments in Castries-North is the Kareli Housing Development over 700 lots no facilities, no commercial activity we had to find really squeezing to get recreational activity you hillcrest gardens you have a green view there is a new development taking place near Greenview that is along the Monde d'Or-Balata Road you have a garden all those communities bupata at Monde d'Or densely populated areas Mr. Speaker and no commercial social or recreational proper recreational activities Mr. Speaker with the proposed town center or business center as we call it the intention is to provide shopping recreational and social amenities for the people of Castries-North and those who will visit this Mr. Speaker we hope to use as a catalyst to then declare the surrounding areas as a special development area so that persons now would live in that general area from you take the Patricia D. James secondary school going all the way back into Lancelot if that area is developed as a special development area Mr. Speaker and we can offer the legislation offer the benefits of incentives to persons who have property in that area who may want to go into the business of Airbnb and hotel accommodation, the hillside plazas etc Mr. Speaker being a distance away a stone floor away Mr. Speaker from the George F. L. Charles airport and the beach this community Mr. Speaker will then begin to flourish as a place to business a place for holiday and a place for visiting, a place to be accommodated and to feel safe in that community. This Mr. Speaker is the plan that we are looking at again Mr. Speaker I keep mentioning the dear Minister for Investment because he is very passionate about these sort of projects and he has been Mr. Speaker working has committed himself to assisting in finding an investor I believe I don't want to make any announcements but we have someone on the horizon who is prepared to look at that the Lecleris business center town center along with again I will give some more information proposed bus terminals in the city of Castries one in the south to decongest our streets with all of those buses who pack on the street side providing a very critical service to our people. One other area Mr. Speaker that we are looking at is the question of the shock VG shock beach facilities and management plan and that is about managing the VG beach the coastline and the environment and replenishing the beach because VG beach now has become probably the most popular beach. It has probably taken over for the tourists it has probably taken over from the which is our finest beach in the country but because of the congestion on our roads and before we by the time we get sorted out with what we are doing on our roads with the queues and the discussions that we are having for the established construction of a fallen highway it is not beneficial either to the tourists or those who take them there to navigate that traffic to get to the beach and then to come back in time to get on to the coast. So a lot of activity takes place at VG beach there are a lot of tourists during the season who go there they love the beach and so we need to put some management in place to do a number of things management in terms of business activity what takes place there how can we develop the beach without compromising it or even compromising its close proximity to the airport changing its character we want to preserve the character we have to make sure that we can do some beach replenishment and I have been speaking already to marine engineers established marine engineers who believe that we can do some good work out there to replenish the beach and to reinstate the coral of the shop coast there is quite a bit of coral in that area some of it is really dead and it calls now back to water also a look at the shock river which dumps into the shock bay the liqwery river and all of those rivers who dump in there and to begin to talk about the management of those rivers in terms of pollution garbage etc which can compromise the quality of the water that Mr. Speaker the hope is to put in a management authority that we look at all of those things and implement it we do have one project we need to do the shock beach facilities which is the old beach facilities that we need to redevelop and to more or less along the same concept as what exists outside the airport entrance we are negotiating we do have one of our hotels in the area close by and they too Mr. Speaker have some plans which they would like to look at and to discuss with us in the community Castries North Mr. Speaker has a music and arts project which has started in the community and it is certainly beginning to develop it is based at the Chase Gardens Multipurpose Center the HRDC and that is doing well and I'm very proud of the work so far and quite a few young people are participating in that program Mr. Speaker the young people of Castries North last year around this time I think it was a rather May or April there is a group of young people in Castries North who undertook a youth expo and they were able to attract some 28 or 30 young people involved in a number of different products engaging the production of a number of products from CMOS to CPOPs as we call it it's really cheesecake on a pop to a range of businesses, handicraft and jewelry and these sort of things baking, pastry making and all of this sort of stuff certainly young people who are keen about getting into the economy and at this time as we speak Mr. Speaker they have there is a buzz going around a buzz about the youth economy and they are already getting approaching the agency for consideration there Mr. Speaker have developed what I call an institute called the Castries North Youth Entrepreneurship Institute and the intention here is to mirror what I believe your your small business development agency that's what they call it Seidu is doing to partner with them but to do what I call the pre screening of young people wanting to get into business based on your terms, based on the ministry's terms and conditions and their standards they have set up this this organization and under the CDP I'll be giving some Seid money will be given to them so that they can institutionalize their operations to operate as a full-fledged entity working in the interest of the young people of the constituency but also extending a hand to the elders who themselves are in business and that is in keeping with the mantra that the children shall lead so Mr. Speaker these are some of the initiatives within the constituency I must admit that in recent times what I've seen on the part of this government is the social commitment the social commitment to help the assistance with school books the assistance with vouchers for underprivileged children the assistance with housing to help prepare homes the Kudme program in the book again a range of areas where the government has demonstrated a strong commitment to social assistance and social development and I recall Mr. Speaker speaking to not too long ago one of the regions by ministers who said to me Seid Lucia now has the most attractive social program in the region Seid Lucia in the region in terms of the different products of social assistance social development and I sometimes believe Mr. Speaker that you know some of those programs are overlapping each other and maybe there's need to be able to look at it and to streamline it to make sure that it reaches everybody regardless of color, class, creed or political affiliation to ensure that the people at all times will benefit from the from the efforts of the government and so Mr. Speaker this ends my contribution on the work of the constituency it ends my contribution on the issue of infrastructure and since I have a few minutes maybe 10 or 15 I just want to touch one area which is quite important a lot more than that well thank you I need okay I want to touch on the area of physical development and urban renewal Mr. Speaker in the budget Mr. Speaker on the head 5410050 is the allocation of $4 million for land acquisition Mr. Speaker this is an issue that is somewhat vexing and it's one that I believe we need to address while government has the authority Mr. Speaker to acquire lands regardless of who owns the land I do not believe to acquire land and for those lands to be in obeyance to be negotiated and when an agreement is arrived at then it takes 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 years to settle we do have a number of cases Mr. Speaker in which lands were taken or acquired from private owners I know of one in the north of the country the interest rate of 6% Mr. Speaker has driven up the claim to over $2 million and more and counting we need to find a way of resolving this and so this here Mr. Speaker the $4 million will certainly help in resolving and paying off a number of private owners particularly the small people the small people whose lands were taken we have started the process and I must thank the Minister of Finance I do not want to say his generosity but his understanding of the need to address the situation and this year we are able to clear quite a bit of that debt addressing the small individuals whose lands were taken we probably need Mr. Speaker some $70 million to resolve that debt $70 million accumulated over a period of time years and years of acquisition and not no settlement taken place this government Mr. Speaker is committed to settling it once and for all to settle it once and for all and to develop a clear path as to how do we proceed therefore the Department of Planning have been mandated to come up with a strategy which I personally have more or less given them a sort of framework as to what they should look at and that is a clear policy which should state that any government project for which land is required the land must be factored the cost of the land must be factored in the cost of the project and that cost must be played that amount must be made part not of the Department of Infrastructure's commitment but part of the respective ministries now it may happen Mr. Speaker that while we may do this it may also die the same way in those departments but we have to come up with a mechanism to be able to create a fund whatever you call that fund where you can allocate the resources that you have made up your mind put those resources into that fund to be able to dip into when you have the projects and to be able to pay those people for the land so that Mr. Speaker is certainly being looked into as we say this Mr. Speaker we also and in the policy statement I will also speak to the issues of quarries and a quarry policy Mr. Speaker that will allow us to be able to manage the development and establishment of quarries but also mindful Mr. Speaker that this country is about to explode with economic activity and development and the need for resources the need for natural resources quarry products we are on the edge of having to import those products even while some people are exporting to neighboring countries so we need to be able to develop policies and that land use policies so that we know where we can put quarries and where we cannot and to avoid any misunderstanding of the general public we also need Mr. Speaker and it's a matter which relates to both infrastructure and physical development we need to be strong about the development control authority the responsibility, the status and how do we proceed further because what is going on Mr. Speaker we believe that there is need to establish a free standing authority to give it the manpower and the resources to be able to maintain a monitoring eye on development in this country too often Mr. Speaker private developers go in and develop the estates say they provide in housing and you either have no infrastructure or substandard infrastructure and the government is the one who has to go in eventually to take over the infrastructure without the necessary certification without the approval of the Department of Infrastructure this we must stop Mr. Speaker and many of them are escaping because what has happened over the years is a behavior of having a master plan development and then going in and say well listen I need to sell some land so that I can put in the infrastructure I need to put the road, I need to put the water I need to put the electricity and so please allow me permission approval for five blocks and then I will put in the infrastructure later on we can move on they are given the five blocks the five blocks are approved nothing happens and the people who are crushed are those persons who buy land from those unscrupulous developers we need to stop this and this government will find a way of dealing with it Mr. Speaker we have an allocation of $387,000 to the Volt expansion in the land registry the land registry Mr. Speaker is becoming very critical in terms of its location the space the accommodation generally it is becoming very critical and for those of us who go to cabinet I'm sure on a Monday morning sometimes as you walk in you see the crowd out there the problem is it is busting at its seams not enough space for staff not enough space for storing the records of the registry and so the public has to more or less flow out onto the pavement in the passage of the main building and that is causing some problem not enough space in there even for the clerks of the various lawyers and agencies including surveyors who we are hoping soon will have access to the land registry to conduct their business so the department has asked for some expansion of their vault facilities I personally believe what the land registry need is in this case the land registry needs its own infrastructure it needs its own building its own accommodation properly designed with the proper accommodation the proper storage facility the proper vaults that can preserve the documents so that documents don't get destroyed and whatnot with the right temperatures inside there etc so we have $387,000 to this Mr. Speaker yes also it's nice that you have spoken about this the World Bank now is engaged with us we are looking about the digitization of the land registry and you know the land registry is a resource and it's a resource that we have not harnessed sufficiently because we are sitting there Mr. Speaker on information that people want information that we in this country needs and information investors and other people from overseas need to also get in the event that they have the matter to deal with and they're interested in land inclusion so we now need we're looking at the digitization digitization of the land registry and the intention is to in that process my thoughts in that process to be able to get persons to subscribe to subscribe to have access to the the records of the registry so you subscribe on an annual basis or half yearly basis and that will be increasing the revenue for the department I must say this Mr. Speaker do you know that a search at the registry is $5 $5 a search to go in and search for your land or get a certificate for your land $5 that I must say I recall when I was when I was working in the legal sector a search was about $3 then it's $5 now but anyway that is to indicate the potential of the registry in terms of revenue and the third item Mr. Speaker on the capital in the department of physical development and urban renewal is that of reconstruction of the of the library market and square and the Parliamentary Representative for the library I'm sure he's quite happy that this project is finally coming coming on and work I mean the designs have been done the allocations first set of allocation has been made and here we see an allocation being made of $2.5 million $1 million dollars coming from loans grants and $1.5 from grants and $1 million from loans Mr. Speaker this ends my contribution on the physical development and urban renewal and to say Mr. Speaker it is a proud moment for me and I'm sure a proud moment for many of us on this side who is standing here today over the last few days and to articulate our position of what contains in the green book the estimates of expenditure and revenue for the country of this country for the people of this country Mr. Speaker those estimates have been carefully prepared those estimates are dedicated they appointed they speak to about they speak to people development human development they speak to social upliftment these estimates speak about lifting the people of this country engaging the people of this country creating opportunities whether it is in business small, medium and and large businesses the youth economy the programs enshrined in the figures of this estimates Mr. Speaker are dedicated to the people of this country it is for us Mr. Speaker as government to go out and to spread the message to let the people know what it is we are doing for them because often people say nothing is happening in the country because some people have put into their head what must happen in a country that you can equate as development is physical structure only physical structure but that is not what is that is not only the measurement that you can the only measurement for development development is about developing the people to be independent to be responsible to make use of the opportunities that are provided in the social services to give a lifting hand and hopefully you will get on your own and you will take charge of your own destiny that is what this government is about Mr. Speaker and that is why I stand here proudly with a free conscience a free conscience not guarded whatsoever in what I say very clear that what this government is doing is not talk and more talk cheap talk and fancy talk it is about the affairs of the country and I am looking forward Mr. Speaker in my support of this resolution to the implementation of this budget to the impact that it would have on the people of this country the old, the young the marginalized the working class the professionals the young people who are looking for opportunity and are seeking hope for those who have intentions who have ideas who want to participate in this country who want to rise in this country as a consequence of a government who cares I look forward to that and I believe under the leadership of the parliamentary representative for Castries East under his representation I am sure not only me will say but the rest of the people will say well done good and faithful servant you have been faithful over a few things I will make you ruler over many things into the joy of your lord I thank you Mr.