 An investment of over US $400,000 was facilitated by the Disaster Vulnerability Reduction Project or DVRP towards the Materials Lab of the Department of Infrastructure, Port and Transport or DIPT. The Materials Lab of the DIPT supports engineering designs in the construction industry. Quality testing of construction materials such as concrete, asphalt and soil is the function of the lab. Before materials are used in the construction of roads, buildings, housing or any infrastructure, they are tested at the DIPT lab. The Materials Lab is a very vital, critical arm within the DIPT. It's not just an income generating department, sorry, section or unit, but it's a section that is vital as it relates to quality control in our construction for civil works, public works, both the public and private sector as well. And when we say quality control, we look at it from quality control and quality assurance. Quality control from the contractor's perspective, quality assurance from the client's perspective. Hence the investment from DVRP resulted in the retrofits of the lab, procurement of essential equipment and training of staff. Over the course of a week, the training was conducted by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of the University of the West Indies or UWE, St. Augustine. Of course, UWE was engaged. We wanted somebody within the Caribbean, of course, transfer of knowledge, etc. So we thought UWE at the time with their Materials Lab would be the best suited at the time to, because they understood what was happening in the Caribbean. We don't want to go too far with people that are not accustomed to our climate and the materials that we did. So we stuck with UWE. Throughout its history, the lab has played an integral role in the operations of the DIPT all over the island. The investment and upgrade will ensure the country's infrastructure adheres to international standards. This is Jacques Hingston Compton of the Disaster Vulnerability Reduction Project.