 Welcome to the NTN Nightly. I'm Nisha Charles. This edition stops stories. The Larissus Road Project is nearing successful completion. New dialysis machines have been installed at the St. Jude's Hospital. A stalwart in statistical development retires are St. Lucia's Director of Statistics. All that plus the latest in youth development, sports and the NTN Nouvelle Arcueil. The Larissus Road Project is fast nearing successful completion, paving the way for new opportunities in the south of the island. The project not only provides for a better travel experience, but is a critical link in the government's development plans for VFOR and surrounding communities. Here's Shannon Labourne. The new Larissus Road is approximately 95% complete, with current paving of the finished surface as part of the final phase. This road project has already began to positively transform the VFOR landscape and will be the new link to the multi-million dollar world class here in our international airport terminal, soon to be constructed. Technical experts from the Department of Infrastructural Onsight recently filed for some update and assessment of programs. Permanent Secretary Mr. Ivor Daniel says, from all indications, the newly completed paved surface, as well as other aspects of construction appears to be up to standard. We indicated that we were removing and improving the road safety at the junction near the bridge and that this road would now lead directly into the new terminal. There will be, at this current location, a possible roundabout based on the design that would lead into the new terminal. So I'm pretty much excited about it. The prospect is good. I'm quite happy that we've now begun to put in on the asphalt. The black tie is on and I'm all excited about it and I can see some progress. The Larissus Road Reconstruction Project consisted construction of 1.6 kilometers of road, which also included side clearance, general excavation, dual-carriage reconstruction, construction of drainage systems and utility transfer. Project Supervisor Mr. Peter C. Pound says, at all stages, various quality control measures were undertaken to ensure the project achieved the approved requirements. He says there are numerous road safety measures incorporated in the final design. So far we have done all the earthworks. That is in place. We have completed the base and the sub-base. And now if you can see behind me, we have placing of the first layer of asphalt and it's going to be a two-layer operation. We are completing the first layer. Then the second layer is going to be placed, which is going to give a very good driving surface. It is indeed a long stretch and we have some very good safety features that are going to be incorporated in the road project. Of course, we're going to have all our road signs, our warning signs are going to be in place, all the indicators and the necessary road furniture. You will find that in place. Proper road marking is going to be placed on the road surface as well. Also, what we have tried to ensure is that we have a mostly level road track that is going to allow for good line of sight ahead of you so that you can see clearly any oncoming traffic. Also, the curves along the road, these are very smooth curves. So it would be fairly easy to navigate those curves and incidents of vehicles running off the road around tight corners, these would be reduced. The project is being executed by C.O. Williams Construction St. Lucia Ltd, which has 32 years of construction experience here in St. Lucia. Founder and CEO, Sir Charles Williams says he's pleased that most of the construction supplies and workforce for this project were supplied by St. Lucia. I'm very, very pleased with the asphalt that we've put down, the quality, and I'm looking forward. I still come every week, I'm looking forward every week to see more and more. The Department of Infrastructure, Ports and Energy have launched residents and motorists for their continued patience and support during the execution of this project, which paves the way for the injection of new life and investment in the south. It is scheduled for completion within four weeks. From the communications unit, this is Shannon the Bond. The Department of Health and Wellness is continuing its efforts to provide quality health services to St. Lucia and suffering from kidney-related complications. Patients in the south of the island now have more ready access with the installation of new dialysis machines at the St. Jude's Hospital. Dialysis services offered to rental patients in the south of the island is expected to be enhanced, as the St. Jude Hospital recently installed three new states of the art dialysis machines. Chairman of the St. Jude Hospital Board, Wyn Harrow, says he is very pleased that the dialysis machines will assess the hospital in facilitating kidney patients amid the increasing numbers. We have increased the number of dialysis machines at St. Jude's Hospital. So right now we have nine machines. We have installed three new machines, two in the dialysis unit and extra two in the dialysis unit and one in the ICU, the intensive care unit. And as a result, we are able now to expand to the public the number of persons who will be receiving dialysis treatment at St. Jude's Hospital. At present we provide treatment six days a week from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. for our sessions, per patients. Harrow also called on St. Lucia's to make lifestyle changes as to avoid being diagnosed with chronic kidney disease and requiring dialysis. Primarily there must be a public relations exercise where St. Lucia's understand the need to avoid seeking dialysis treatment and start looking after their own care. Try to engage in lifestyles where they can avoid the need for dialysis in the future. Currently the St. Jude Hospital has a total of nine dialysis machines available to the public. Reporting from the Communications Unit of the Ministry of Health and Wellness, I am Fena Neptune. The Department of Sustainable Development through the increased St. Lucia's capacity to monitor multilateral environmental agreements, implementation and sustainable development projects continues to build the competence of the public and private sector to facilitate the coordination of environmental information to ensure national indicator-based reporting in a coherent and more efficient manner. A training workshop recently concluded which sought to further greater institutional, systematic and individual level understanding of environmental issues among non-governmental stakeholders. The three-week training workshop sought to enhance St. Lucia's ability to meet reporting requirements on its obligations for multilateral environmental engagements. The training sessions covered geographic environmental indicators, conducting vulnerability and adaptation assessments among other areas. The training also sought to further greater institutional, systematic and individual level understanding of environmental issues among non-governmental stakeholders. As individual agencies, the information and training provided in these sessions have direct impact and can put into practical use in your workplace and facilitate further skills training of your colleagues. I applaud the trainers and their skill sets that facilitated your returning day after day but especially commend you all for your dedication and time invested over the past weeks. Sometimes the process of learning can get overwhelming as there is so much to learn and not enough time to devote and to really delve into it. However, I believe that the newly acquired skills from this workshop are adequate to enable you to successfully capture and manage data to improve St. Lucia's ability to monitor reports on progress made. Facilitating the training workshop was chicadir of CanBean Associates Incorporated. Environmental indicators, social indicators, economic indicators are all very related. These workshops have been very challenging and by no means we can say that you would have become an expert in the particular area. However, one of the good things about this workshop we did the last workshop about two years ago is that there will be follow-up on the participants to see how you put what you learn in practice and importantly to grow. The support of agencies including the Global Environmental Fund and UNEP has facilitated the enhancement of the local capacity to generate access and use information for policy development, planning, monitoring and evaluating of environmental impacts and trends. The Peace Corps Eastern Caribbean has rolled out a primary literacy program in conjunction with the Ministry of Education. The program focuses on classroom support for primary school teachers and students using the Eastern Caribbean standard primary curriculum and additional resources. More from Anissa Antoine. The US Peace Corps in the Eastern Caribbean in partnership with the Ministry of Education, the OECS and the USAID are hosting a primary literacy workshop. The three-day workshop will include informative sessions, poses and insightful discussions between the counterpart teachers and the Peace Corps volunteers working to improve literacy education in the Caribbean. Now in its sixth year of collaboration with the OECS the US Peace Corps has conducted baseline assessments on 7,259 students in grades one to three. Leonette Japeer is the original training manager for the Peace Corps Eastern Caribbean. The workshop is intended to have the volunteers and the counterparts hone their primary English literacy skills to be able to respond to the needs of children in grades one to three in infant and primary schools. And our aim through this workshop is to ensure that the participants live with a wealth of knowledge, information, strategies, best practices that they can employ with other schools to ensure that the students are able to make an improvement in their literacy skills. Lisa Sargissian Terence, reading specialist attached to the OECS Education Management Development Unit, expressed her gratitude towards the Peace Corps and volunteers for their collaboration in ensuring students receive the best quality of education. Better literacy instruction is the key to improving children's lives from now and into their adulthood. We at the OECS Commission share the belief that every learner can succeed and that's actually our vision. Every learner can succeed. And we know that this can also be attained through very sound, evidence-based literacy programs. The OECS feels very confident that we are creating synergies through such experiences and that education in the region is addressed in a collaborative manner with partners like Peace Corps. The workshop commenced on Tuesday, March 27 and will culminate on Thursday, March 29, 2019. From the Government Information Service, I am Anisia Antoine reporting. So in Lucian statistician Edwin St. Catherine, who is considered a stalwart in statistical development in the region, is now retired from the public service as Director of Statistics. St. Catherine reflected on his robust tenure in the field with the OECS Commission. He believes that there needs to be more advocacy for statistics in the region, which includes more deployment of available tools. Deploying the use of blogs for analysis of our data, deploying the use of Facebook and Twitter on a more regular and scheduled basis when we have major releases, like, for example, releases on inflation, on unemployment, on the GDP, maybe highlighting specific points that are interesting that people should remember. When there is any policy discourse, they will be better informed about, you know, what is happening. And generally in terms of the structure of the statistical system to have much more regular publication of information. One of his greatest achievements during his tenure was the delivery of greater methodologies for conducting the census. So I try to cut it. I think in 2001, through the use of scanning technology, right, we cut that down to about a year and a half. By 2010, we cut that down to about seven months. St. Lucia delivers census results within seven months of completion of the census. St. Catherine assumed the role of Director of Statistics in 1994 and has worked extensively on the development and conduct of labour force surveys in Caribbean countries. He is a registered expert with the International Monetary Fund, the IMF, on inflation, price index measurements and the development of national consumption expenditure baskets. And this is the NTN Nightly, coming up, the latest happenings in youth and sports with Ryan O'Brien. This list can contribute a small amount of gas in the space, when in TPI, we can try to do everything we can to ensure that we lower the amount of gas we serve to prevent the earth from getting hotter. And we have to lower the amount of gas we serve to mitigate the change. There are many things known all over the world that cause the earth to get hotter. That's what we have to do to make sure that we adapt. We have to do everything we can to prepare and recover for the negative consequences of climate change. We all know that. For example, we can ensure that we protect all that we plant. We can also ensure that natural life that we are able to endure damage at the cyclone and goblins. We can build a channel for the people who need it and a channel for the people who need it. We can do everything we can to live a climate change. We can find information about the national government and the march or even learn to protect the cold and all our citizens. Welcome back. We join Ryan O'Brien for the latest happenings in youth development and sports. Hello once again. I'm Ryan O'Brien with your update from the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports on the NTN Nightly News. The talent of Saint Lucia Special Olympians is improving annually and that realization continues to inspire technical officials who work constantly with potential athletes to compete at World Special Olympics. This comes after another successful outing for Saint Lucia and it recently concluded World Special Olympics in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Members of Saint Lucia's team got an official welcome home last Saturday and National Director, Special Olympics Saint Lucia Junior Emmanuel noted that the team was outstanding in the events in which they participated. They got an opportunity to see how the different side of the world live because in Saint Lucia we are free and to do the things we want, walk around how we want, but then they got an opportunity to learn how to respect rules and the culture while at the same time embracing differences. So it was a great opportunity for them. They performed extremely well on the circumstances. They took a little adjustment. They were able to win gold in the football. We got a silver in track and field by Joshua Henry. We got a gold in Bochi and three bronze medals. So in truth and in fact our athletes performed extremely, extremely well. Meanwhile, the Minister responsible for youth development and sports, the Honourable Edmund Estefan made a special presentation to a sitting of Parliament on Tuesday. Mr Speaker, Saint Lucia's participation at the Special Olympics heralded the essence of pride, joy, respect, love, appreciation and recognition of those athletes in capacities. Mr Speaker, the Special Olympics mission was carved out of the critical need to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic type sports for children and adults with disabilities. This provides them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, to demonstrate courage and experience joy and participate in a sharing environment. Mr Speaker, we know and believe strongly that our athletes who participated in these games are brilliant. They are talented, they are gifted, they are skilled and indeed remarkable. We recognize as a sports focus and committed government that they have a vital contribution to make in our society. This in essence, Mr Speaker, helps them contribute. Meaningfully, as able-bodied citizens, we value to earn a respected place in our society. The Ministry of Development and Sports continued its second round consultation and meetings Tuesday with leaders from the castries and rosso areas to review key recommendations made throughout the ministry's initial round of consultations in late 2018. Eight groups were represented at the dialogue, including the sub-management committee, South Castries Youth and Sports Council, Rosso Valley Youth and Sports Council, Castries Central Youth and Sports Council and Youth Power Group. The engagement provided an opportunity to ensure alignment in the understanding of key needs of these groups from the ministry, while also sharing feedback from the wider group of national stakeholders. Before leaving, a reminder that Youth Exposé set for April 5th at Constitution Park will also be the former launch to Youth Month. Activities from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. including a Youth March, exhibition, live demonstrations, talent show and concerts. Come out and lend support to the nation's youth. That's your update today on the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports. I'm Ryan O'Brien. And stay with the NTN Nightly. Up next, Prime Minister Hutchinson is here with the NTN Nouvelle Arquio. Small household electrical appliances when faulty can give rise to big problems. If you have just purchased a small appliance from a store and you are concerned about the safety of the item, an appliance has been at home for some time subjected to wear and tear from regular usage. Have it tested by its English above standards. It is better to be safe than sorry. For more information, contact the St. Lucia Bureau of Standards at 456-0546 or email SLBS at candw.lc or visit the website at www.slbs.org.lc St. Lucia Bureau of Standards making quality and standards our way of life. Welcome back. We join Prime Minister Hutchinson for the NTN Nouvelle Arquio. Thank you very much, Niche. Thank you, Madam Department of University of Causability for the information and government services at the GIS and the NTN Nouvelle Arquio. Thank you, Prime Minister Hutchinson. I would like to share with you some of the common issues that we have to deal with. The construction of the Nouvelle Arquio has almost been completed. What we have to do is to work to give the Nouvelle Arquio the opportunity to finish the project. According to the report from the Minister of Construction I have started to transform as much as I need the Ville Ville Fort with the Nouvelle Arquio and the NTN Nouvelle Arquio that I have found constructed to suit. The technical officers visited the project recently to make an assessment for the work that I have done. Excellent. Thank you very much. I would like to say that the work that has been done has been very successful. The construction project of the Nouvelle Arquio consists of 6 km of work that has been done to clean up the work that has been done to clean up the work that has been done to build the system and to place the utility service that has been built for the Nouvelle Arquio. The project manager, Mr. Peter Cipal stated that there are very few questions that are necessary to ensure that the quality of the work is maintained to ensure that the work that I have done to ensure that the quality of the work is maintained to ensure that the quality of the work is maintained at the right level. Today, I have a request to the committee that the work is done to ensure that the quality of the work As you can see, it's an open opportunity to build a new life and a new investment in the past four weeks. This culture has found a new intention to increase and cultivate continuation in the future. For example, the foundation for cultural development in this area is the CDF, which is a two-to-three-season workshop to try and increase the diversity of the culture that is under way to spread it. Director General for the UNESCO organization, M. Marcia Simphorien, tells us that UNESCO is a agency that has been able to export CDF to make its own reality. It's mainly about this culture that is tangible. It means that we, as a nation, can embrace it and live it. It means that we can eat it, eat it, and place it wherever we are. But we can embrace the spirit, for example, music, different folkloric dances, apart from music. We have documented the culture. We don't have any culture, but we can create it. We have specialized documents. It can be used in mass loneliness, in the mass education, in the home farms, we have such a process of documenting its culture. We have a CDF as the Assistant Spokesman. Director General UNESCO also decided to assist the CDF after receiving your proposal. We are sure there is a fair sale. So UNESCO is offering financial assistance to support the professionals and some who do not know how to register their financial information. We have a lot of documents. Everyone says that we have a lot of documents but we do not have net documents. So we have a lot of documents and we have a lot of money. We have a lot of money for the masquerade we have a lot of money for the kutumbas we have a lot of money. So we have a lot of documents to support the activities of the culture and we have a lot of money to buy the CDF for the assistance. We have a lot of money for the CDF which is for the publicity of the organization. Jimmy Clavier declared that the CDF will support the assistance of UNESCO and that the government will support the CDF in a very significant way. We have a lot of assistance. We have a lot of government, a lot of countries. We have a lot of documents. We have a lot of documents. Since 2007, we have been protected. We have a lot of protectors. We have a lot of protectors. We have a lot of protectors. We have a lot of information from the government that we have not done enough to protect the country. That's the reason. We have a lot of different countries that have lost their jobs. We have lost ourselves. We have a lot of money to support the CDF which is a successful place. We have a lot of information about the different countries about the history of the organization. The most important thing is the different organizations that have participated in the activities that can help us to establish the CDF in Monobanad. That's the reason we have a lot of new news today. Thank you very much for your time and for your invitation, because now we have a lot of new ideas. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. And that brings us to the end of the NTN Nightly. Join us next time at 7 p.m. with a repeat at 7 a.m. You can also catch up with us anytime on the St. Lucia Highway. Thank you. I'm Nisha Charles.