 Honourable Alan Shasne, Prime Minister of St. Lucia, Honourable Ezekiel Joseph, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, Physical Planning, Natural Resources and Corporatives, Honourable Moses Jabatist, Parliamentary Representative for Viewfort North. And please allow me to apologize on behalf of Honourable Kenny Antony, who is the Parliamentary Representative for Viewfort South. He is not able to attend the event today due to a prior engagement. Other members of Parliament, members of the diplomatic call, permanent secretaries in the ministries, Mr. Francis Dembo, Chairman of the Board of Directors of WASCO and other directors, Mr. Edmund Rages, General Manager of WASCO and other managers, staff of the Water and Sewage Company, members of the press, invited guests, residents of Viewfort, ladies and gentlemen. Good day and welcome to the official launch of the Viewfort Water Supply Redevelopment Project. My name is Sherri-Ann Gillard-Williams and I am the Communication and Marketing Officer at WASCO and the Mistress of Ceremony at today's event. On behalf of the Board of Directors and Management of the Water and Sewage Company, I wish to thank you for accepting our invitation to attend this special occasion. Today marks the commencement of the $60 million Water Supply Redevelopment Project in Viewfort and that project will read down to the benefit of the residents and businesses in the south of the island. On behalf of the management and staff of the St. Lucia Water and Sewage Authority, WASCO, it gives me a particular pleasure to extend a very warm welcome to you. To this ceremony, signifying the commencement of the Viewfort Water Redevelopment Project here in Bochejew Viewfort. As some of you may recall, this Bochejew Water Treatment Plant which is now well over 75 years old was built by the Americans during World War II and has served the people of Viewfort and its environs very well for many, many years. Although the plant has been upgraded from time to time to meet the increased water demands of the people living in the Viewfort area, this system has rarely served its time and is now proven to be inadequate for the current and constantly increasing needs of Viewfort and the surrounding communities. Therefore, the time has come for the implementation of a proper project that is intended to completely modernize the water distribution system in this part of the island with a view to ensuring that there will be a reliable and advanced system that incorporates the newest ideas and the best up-to-date features. Naturally, we, the members of the Viewfort South... The members of the Viewfort South Constituency Council greatly welcome this project, especially in light of the important fact that a sustained abundance of water will go a very long way in contributing to the infrastructural development of the South, since it will be one of the main pillars in ensuring the growth and progress of this area. Also, this will be redundant to the overall common advancement, particularly to the people who work and live here and our country in general. My council would like to roundly applaud the management of Wasco and by extension the government of St. Lucia for its foresight and initiative in envisioning the need for the project and taking the necessary and decisive action in moving swiftly to implement it at this time. We wish all those who will be working on the project Godspeed, with the hope that they will be working efficiently and in a safe and secure environment, thereby completing the project on time without any accidents, perhaps, and danger to their lives. Once again, ladies and gentlemen, I wish to welcome you here today to this timely event and may God bless all of you. I thank you. Today marks an important milestone for the government and people of St. Lucia as well as the board, management, and staff of Wasco. Welcome to one and all. This project is the mother of all water projects ever undertaken in the south of this country. The Viewfort Water Supply System serves the region of Viewfort, library, and environs. It has an estimated population of 20,000 persons as well as several commercial and institutional enterprises. The primary components of the existing water supply system includes the grease intake and treatment plant with a production capacity of 1.4 million gallons a day. The boseju intake and treatment plant with production capacity of 800,000 gallons a day. Six pumping stations, 12 storage tanks totaling 4,116 cubic meters, and a distribution network of 132 kilometers of pipe. Viewfort is on track to becoming a critical region for economic growth and prosperity for our people in St. Lucia. The international airport is located in the area and is currently being expanded. Consideration has been given to establishment of a cruise ship port and the construction and operation of three hotels in the area. Projections for the future of the region suggest increased population size and industrial expansion. The country's first and foremost turf club is also located in the Viewfort area. There are, however, widespread issues related to the quantity and quality of the water supply. Water supply in the south has been unreliable and inconsistent in both the dry and rainy season due to the inadequacy of the existing system. During periods of intense rainfall, the turbidity of the raw water rises significantly above an acceptable level. During the dry season and an account of climate change, the quantity of water available from the existing intake decreases significantly. This often leads to extended periods of water shortages in the area. These water supply constraints in the area have curtailed tourism and other industrial development plans in the south. In fact, during this drought, the Viewfort River literary dried up in various sections. The Viewfort water supply system is therefore in need of an urgent upgrade to meet existing and projected demand and to protect public health. Taking the above state of affairs into consideration, a comprehensive study of the water supply system was done by Stantec International Consulting Limited of Canada, commencing in 2013 and completed in 2015. Recommendations for the improvement of the water supply were made and used as the basis for an approach to the CDB, the Caribbean Development Bank for funding. The bank in December 2014 approved a loan of 19.6 million US dollars for the project and the loan agreement between the bank and the government of St. Lucia was signed on July the 16th, 2016. Input from the government and WASCO amount to an additional 4.2 million US dollars in counterpart funding. Consultants for the supervision of the project were engaged in June 2018. The consultant CES Consulting Engineers of Germany reviewed the project study, carried out field investigations and made updates to the original study. In August 2018, selection of potential contractors for the infrastructure works began in earnest with a pre-qualification exercise. This closed in October of that year and nine firms made submissions. From this activity, four firms were invited to bid for the project on March 19th, 2019. Bids closed on the 11th of June, 2019 and two firms duly submitted bids. After due and careful deliberations of the bids with the assistance of the supervision consultants and after approval from both the CDB and the Central Tenders Board, Vinci Construction grant projects was selected as a successful bidder. The contract with Vinci was signed on the 16th of January, 2020. Due to the need for additional expenditure, the implementation of the project is to be completed in two phases. Phase one will comprise the rehabilitation of the existing upper intake at grace, the construction of a new water intake at grace, the rehabilitation upgrading of the existing Grace War raw water transmission line, the construction of a new water treatment plant at grace to treat 2.4 million gallons of water a day, the construction of a new pumping station at grace, supplying water to upper grace, the rehabilitation of the existing intake structure at Boseju, including a new raw water pumping station, the construction of a new control building and a new generator transformer building at Boseju, the replacement of the medium voltage, electrical supply and the associated electrical cabinets and the skater system, the construction of a new pumping station at Boseju Water Treatment Plant, supplying water to Vinci, Latune, Mon Boseju and Oje tanks. The installation of approximately 4.5 kilometers of high density iron ductile transmission main from the Boseju Water Treatment Plant to Oje, including the installation of the Latune and the library legs in common trenches. The installation of five glass fused steel storage tanks totaling 5,675 cubic meters, construction of Mon Boseju reservoir and pipe appendages works on the phase two. And that will include the rehabilitation of the raw water transmission line at Boseju, the construction of a new water treatment plant at Boseju to treat 1.9 million gallons of water a day, the construction of a new chemical storage building at Boseju, the installation of approximately 8.7 kilometers of high density ductile iron transmission mains from the Boseju Water Treatment Plant to Bainville and Latune. The installation of five kilometers of high density ductile iron transmission mains from Oje tank to library tank. The cost of phase one is 14.1 million US dollars and phase two when installed concurrently with phase one is 6.9 million US dollars. Additional funding for phase two is being sought from the Caribbean Development Bank by the government of St. Lucia. The project being conducted under design bill arrangement commenced in March 2020. Phase one is scheduled to be completed in September 2021 and phase two six months later in March of 2022. It is the intention of the main contractor Vinci to utilize several local subcontractors from Viewfort, which will no doubt add stimulus to the local economy and benefit to the labor force in the community. On completion of the project, the people of Viewfort will finally enjoy a regular supply of quality treated portable water The loss of the water supply during rainy months will be substantially reduced with the commissioning of two state of the art water treatment plants at Grayson, Bocacio. The reliability of the supply will be improved with the increased storage capacity and new transmission pipelines. For this, we must commend the Board of Directors of Wasco, the management and staff of Wasco, the government of St. Lucia as the client and the CDB which provided the funding. Apart from the infrastructure works, the Viewfort Water Supply Infrastructure Project also has several other notable components. These include capacity building of Wasco comprising one and energy audit of Wasco facilities, a water audit for the Viewfort Water Supply System, Viewfort Water Supply System non-revenue water reduction program, preparation of a watershed management plan to improve water resources management agency capacity for water resources monitoring in the Viewfort Water Shed. Evaluation of the gender impact of the project, project management and monitoring the engagement of a project coordinator. The Viewfort Water Supply Redevelopment Project is one of the several major undertakings by Wasco at this time. We have successfully completed the Dennery North Water Supply Project which has brought much needed relief to that community. The John Compton Dam deciliting project while impacted by inclement weather for its duration is scheduled to commence dredging activities later this year. The redevelopment of the millet intake and pipeline will soon see invitation of bids being sent out to potential contractors. The supply and installation of a water treatment plant at Micwood is on the consideration. The other project is the Viewfort Wasco office building currently under construction. This building construction started in February of 2019 and by the end of the year or during the first quarter of next year it should be officially opened and commissioned. In closing, let me thank the government and people of St. Lucia for their patience over the years, in particular the Department of Economic Development and its support must be thanked for assisting us with the implementation of this project. Also, I must single out the minister, the Honorable Isikal Joseph and our Prime Minister, the Honorable Alan Chastney and members of his Cabinet for their unwavering support and insistence that this project must be completed for the benefit of the people of St. Lucia at the soonest. Thank you, sir. I would also like to thank the CDB for their financial support. Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for coming to Patek in this very important and historic activity. May the good Lord guide and protect us in this journey to ensure our people in Viewfort are provided with an improved water production and distribution service. We look forward to returning in September, 2021, God willing, to mark the completion of the first phase of this tremendously vital project to the residents of Viewfort in particular and the citizens of St. Lucia in general. And once again, in March, 2022, to celebrate the completion of phase two on the entire project. At Wasco, what is life? I thank you very much. And we need to celebrate. Thank you. It is with great pleasure that we are together here today to break the ground for the official start of the Viewfort Water Redevelopment Program. On behalf of the entire team of Vinci and country manager Timoti Doloba, who cannot attend the ceremony due to the travel restriction, we are pleased to announce the commencement of the physical works. And we are indeed privileged to be the contractor for this project. Vinci started studying the project three years ago, while concept designs and engineering studies were being developed by Wasco and its consulting engineers. We have been able to go in depth in the site visits and getting familiar with the area to be able to develop technical solution which would make the water distribution system efficient and sustainable. We used our experience game from our past project in St. Lucia and across other Caribbean countries to deliver and guarantee suitable solutions adapted on the local context in St. Lucia. Vinci's vision for the implementation of such a complex project is always to capitalize on the best combination of local and international inputs. So local inputs, which include the employment of local staff, local subcontractors who have deep knowledge of the area, who know the local practice and methods, including local construction, equipment, machinery, material, and also an international input for the level of expertise and experience which is required for this kind of project and which is not readily available on the island. So it also include of course the training of local teams by international experts brought specifically for the project. So our work are guided by Vinci's international policies and standards, particularly with respect to the safety and quality standards as well as environment, protection and preservation and resilience against climate change. We have and will deploy the necessary resources, human and material to guarantee the smooth execution of the work for completion of the project within the time and within the project. We now have completed most of the design and the physical work have started in some of the project locations, such as Bossejo for example, for the foundation of the administrative building and in Dres where some of the artworks have already started. Our team comprise a core group of local engineer, technicians, multiple trade staff who have already worked on Vinci projects and are trained to our international standards. We are currently bringing more local staff on board and having them undergo safety induction and order training upon the arrival on the project. We will do our best to minimize the disruption to the resident while we are working in your communities and we will ensure that the work will be undertaken seamlessly. The restatement of the road and surrounding environment is paramount to us and special care will be given to those aspect. We look forward to the continued cooperation of the various community while we work together to build a strong and resilient potable water system. We will guarantee the delivery of high quality and quantity of potable water within the project area in Viofort and surrounding communities within the next 12 to 18 months. We would like to thank the government of St. Lucia and Wasco for making this project a reality and most importantly for their continued trust and support for Vinci. As per Vinci Adage, we build on trust, no cabati sous-confiance. Thank you very much and have a pleasant evening. Today marks another step in the continuation of an initiative which was started officially in early November 2015 by way of published announcements in the Caribbean Development Bank official websites. Actionable steps were taken from 2013 to 2015 by the then Prime Minister and Member of Parliament for Viofort South, Honorable Dr. Kenny Anthony, to ensure that this part of St. Lucia would within two years get a more reliable supply of water. While there were launches of the various phases of the project from as early as 2013, on November 2nd, 2015, Mr. Andrew Dupigne, Chief Economic and Infrastructure, from the Chief, from the Economic and Infrastructure Division of the CDB, along with the former Minister, Honorable then Dr. James Fletcher and Dr. Anthony, on November 24th, 2015, all expressed the confidence that the US $19.675 million by the CDB and the European Investment Bank, the EIB, would surely cause this project to succeed. Dr. Anthony saw this water project as key to the expanding South. Already, we had the St. Jude Hospital, the hotel, the airport, the stadium, and the Boseju Mid Processing Plant as major infrastructure existing within Viofort, which required a constant supply of safe and reliable water. Another key driver to this policy was to ensure that there was quality water through upgrades, because in the South, there was rapid expansion in housing. The developments at Iwanora Orchard, Latuni, the expansion of La Rechouse in Viofort North, we had the growing need for water at the newly established areas like castles in Paradise, the ecotourism activities and fishing of Savants Bay and other emerging areas. And so since around 97, 99, 2000, the whole South had seen an expansion of development in housing and the needs for quality water became even more urgent. The evidence is very clear that the water supply system in the South could not remain. And the evidence of all that I speak of can be found on your telephones if you simply type the Viofort Water Redevelopment Supply Project 2015 Caribbean Development Bank. If you do that now, you'll find everything that I've said. The consultations of 2015 were very informative and lively. I recall vividly the consultation which was held at the National Skills Development Center, the NSDC at Latuni. Residents of both Viofort South and North were in attendance. I was in attendance. I advanced the view that the water from the treatment plant at Greece can also be branched to Bellevue and Pierrot to join the line that already exists. If my memory serves me well, the engineers at the time thought that it was better to upgrade the water catchment than to connect from Greece to Bellevue. I continue to advance even today that the water treatment plant at Greece, especially the new water treatment plant, can supply water to the line which goes to Bellevue and through Pierrot with a tank at Tetmon. I think it is still crucial and I look forward to further discussions to see if that is still possible. You see, Madam Chair, projects like this will always transcend the governments. There are projects which one government will obviously have to complete what the other started. These projects are not for us. They are not for politicians. They are for the people. And while another government starts something, another government continues. It is the people at the end of the day who must benefit. I want to continue to urge the government to continue to put the people first and so that these projects can be observed and enjoyed. Major works will be done at Greece. Some of it are tavern, others on the Grace River. While the potential job opportunities are hopeful, there are also issues which we must continue to deal with. There are many farmers who will be displaced. And I know discussions are ongoing with the farmers and I wish to plead on their behalf so that the farmers who, whether it's at Vialet or the farmers who have worked in the catchment areas for a long time that these farmers will continue to be given consideration so that they can be, if they have to be shifted, that they get places that they can continue their trade. My recent experience has been that as the parliamentary representative for V4 North, that I am not considered for effective participation in any matters substantial relating to V4 North. And therefore, I wish to urge the contractor and to say that I'm available to speak with him or to speak with anyone who may need my assistance if you think it's necessary because farmers will be displaced, community things will be happening within the communities and if you think it's necessary, I'm available to assist because this project is for the benefit of the people. I wish to continue to wish the project well and I wish to continue to plead before school but even as we continue this project, every time in parliament, in public, I beg and I plead for the Fonka-Pesh water issue to be dealt with. Even though I've seen it as an achievement on a list of 200 achievements, there is still no water there, the pipes are below the ground and for some reason it is not happening. It is not for me, it's for the people. I wish to say that I appreciate the calls and discussions of the chairman on this matter because we have spoken about it many times and he has called me and I'm hoping that we have some resolution to the matter. So I wish to say that for all of the people, people of V4 North, people of Labyrinth, V4 South, this project is important and since I had not heard it yet, I wish to place on record the contribution of Dr. Kenny Anthony, the honorable Dr. Kenny Anthony, former prime minister, the contribution of former minister, James Fletcher who at the time was in charge of WASCO and when I say in charge of it, fell under his ministry, the contribution of all of those workers at WASCO who toiled day and night in the consultations to ensure that this project got its life. I think it's important for these things to be said and for these things to be recorded. For at the end of the day, it is not about us, the politicians. It's a continuation of work from one era to the next and as a member of parliament for V4 North, I wish this project well. I wish all the members of WASCO well and I look forward to the completion of this project and to participate in it. Thank you very much. Really, I don't know what much more I can add to this ceremony this afternoon. After we listened to the presentation made by the chair of the board of directors, giving some background as to how we arrive at where we are today. I wanna say that as the line minister, on many occasions, I have the opportunity in parliament to give an update of this project and many projects under my responsibility as it pertains to WASCO. I made one commitment. The commitment I made in parliament is that I would not come to parliament and make a statement repeating myself, saying the same thing over and over. My commitment was to show progress as to how we as a government implement the many projects that we are responsible for. When I made my first presentation, my first statement in parliament in August of 2018, as it pertains to this project, I also gave an indication that during the first quarter of 2020, we should see the commencement of infrastructure work as it pertains to this project. And I'm happy, Mr. Chair, I'm happy that with the support of your board and management, that commitment is being realized. We are here today officially starting infrastructure work. I'm happy to say that it's a privilege as the line minister, because as you heard from the chairman, this is not the only project we are doing as it pertains to improving the water infrastructure in St. Lucia. Just last week, we had the opportunity to be in January North, where we officially receive a project again implemented under our watch. Why is it started under the St. Lucia Labor Party? Yeah, I must admit, but we had to make some serious changes to allow us to successfully complete this project. And again today, like you heard from the parliamentary representative for New Fort North, the project started during the time. And of course, whenever I would have had the opportunity in parliament, there'll be some exchanges between the member for New Fort South and myself as it pertains to this project. So I'm happy to see that we are starting today the infrastructure work as it pertains to this project. But before we reach as far as the infrastructure work is concerned, there were a number of consultancies that took place between 2018 to now. One of the consultancies that was done was started in June 2018 and was done by a firm called CES Consulting Engineering. And that consultancy looked at a water audit for the South. And what was very revealing is that we realize, based on the evaluation done by that consultancy firm, we are saying that we are losing 46% of non-rovid revenue water, 46%. In the North, the figures bounce between 50 to 60%. Now as a company, we cannot continue in that regard with a high percentage of non-revenue water. So I was happy that in developing the concept for this project, that was taken into consideration. Also, the firm had the responsibility to look at preparing tender documents and assisting us in going through the tender process. In February 2018 again, we had another consultancy and that wants to analyze the gender impact as it pertains to water and the availability of water. And of course, we would head to the skit from our staff members from OASCO as to the many challenges, the daily challenges that we have faced with consumers as it pertains to the unrelated supply of water in this community. We also did a watershed management plan because we can put on the infrastructure and if there isn't a plan to how we manage our watershed because you heard that the population is increasing, you heard the demand for water is increasing and you heard from the chairman what is life. So definitely for us to be able to sustain the supply of water, there must be some management plan as it pertains to how we manage our watershed. And of course, we had a consultancy done and we were able to come up with some ideas, some plans as to how we manage our watershed so we can get a reliable supply of water. And the last consultancy we did was an energy efficient consultancy. One of the highest costs for OASCO is energy. A lot of the pumps have been generated through elapsity. And we believe that moving forward is need for us to look at how we can introduce some energy saving measures to at least sustain the cost of operation. And that consultancy came up with a number of recommendations which we are going to look at moving forward. So before we reach here today to really start officially the infrastructure work, there are a number of consultancies that was done and the results are very revealing and it will assist us in being able to manage and develop policies as it pertains to how we continue to supply a reliable source of water to our people. Now we have heard a lot of things said. In fact, this on Sunday I was in a talk show speaking as to the projects we are doing and someone called, in fact he didn't find himself, saying that we at OASCO give direct awards to a lot of our contracts, which is totally false. All the contracts we have been able to implement went through a tendering process. I want to say here again today, I want to echo what was said by the chairman, in the case of the Viewport Water Infrastructure Development Project, we went through that process. Nine firms applied and showed interest and four were shortlisted. So when you hear people saying that we're giving Derek award at OASCO, I want you all to tell them that's incorrect. The board and management are going through the process as it pertains to identifying contractors. And I'm happy that we are working with Venice again to implement this project. And one of the policies that we have told Vincent, you heard from Mr. Michael, that we want in the implementation of this project for us to be able to engage contractors from the respective communities that have the ability to be able to create employment for people in the respective communities. And if I have to speak to the experience we had in then ring off as it pertains to phase two, I'm sure that a lot of contractors from the south will benefit directly as it pertains to the implementation of this project. The project when we came in cost 65.26 million EC dollars, 24.17 million US. Of course, when we went through the bidding process then see original bid was 28.144 million US dollars. Through negotiations, and we have a very good negotiating team, Mr. Michael Prott, through negotiations we went on from 28 to 21.01 million dollars. But we were faced with a problem. The problem we faced was the allocation for infrastructural as it pertains to the loan from Caribbean Development Bank was 15.511 million dollars US. So it is, we have our contractor agreeing to a project of 21.010 million US dollars, but we have an allocation of only 15.57 million US dollars. What do we do? Do we share the project? Or as a government do we look for additional resources? This is a discussion with the Honorable Prime Minister and sometimes you have been blamed that we're not continuing projects by previous governments. You heard that all the time. We're not continuing projects that we don't have our parliamentary representative as the one representing that constituency. And it's true in the case of Viewfort North and South and Library, they are all represented by labor. So what I'm saying here today, what we are hearing out there as victimization and as a government we're not continuing projects that are in constituencies we are not representing, it's false. Let's look at Denver North again represented by the S and we did the project. The Prime Minister said, let's go ahead with the project. So this information out there, this communication out there that as a government we only concentrating on constituencies that we are representing, it's false. We believe in the people. We believe that water is life. We believe that as a government, we need to develop and implement projects that impact the people and that is what we are doing here today. So based on discussion, the Honorable Prime Minister said, look Mr. Minister, we are going to look for the resources because we need to finish the project in its entirety. There's no need to make this project what you call in a half way, we need to do the entire project and you have given a commitment to get the additional $6 million, what we call a phase two. So we can finish this project for everyone in view for it to benefit. And Mr. Prime Minister, I want to thank you very much for your support as you put into this. But our staff members from the south, we put them in that infrastructure and you heard the chairman said, how we describe it, the mud of all projects in the south, is correct. But how are we going to continue to have a vibrant staff in the south providing the services that we need and we know is needed for our people. And I remembered one, the Prime Minister and myself had the opportunity to visit the staff members in the south. He called me and I said, Mr. Minister, we can continue to have persons in that type of condition. We have to improve it. And we are improving it despite the fact that we are getting a lot of negative comments out there from certain sector. We know what we are doing is correct. We cannot have this massive, or this major project taking place in the south and our staff members are not in a comfortable environment. So I want to say here today, again, I made a commitment with the support of the Prime Minister and my cabinet that we are going to improve your conditions. And before I came here to this function, I had the opportunity to go on site and I must say that the construction is moving smoothly. Unfortunately, when we had a certain ceremony, I said we want to see, we officially open this infrastructure in December but because of COVID, and I'm here now with COVID stop what we're doing, do not continue to construct the building for you in the south, use the money to do something else. But we started before COVID. We started before COVID, so why should we stop now? And that is when we need proper facility if you talk more about COVID. So I want to tell you all in the south that as a government with the support of my Honorable Prime Minister and Cabinet colleagues, we are going to do all within our powers to make sure that this building finish on time and now we are here in February, March 2021, and we are looking forward to be around to officially open this new infrastructure. I want to say to then see construct, thank you very much for again, coming on board with us and working with us and understanding our position as it pertains to how we implement projects in the respective communities. I want on behalf of the contractors to call on residents to be patient. There will be some inconvenience. There will be. Be patient with the contractors because our project is for the benefit of all of us and I'm looking forward to the successful completion of this project. I want to say Honorable Prime Minister, thank you very much for your support and to my Cabinet, thank you very much for your support and to Mr. Chair, Board of Directors and Management of Wasco, thank you very much for what we have been able to accomplish as it pertains to Wasco and improving the water infrastructure throughout St. Lucia. I stand here as a proud minister responsible for water. We have done our job and of course we are going to do much more as the years progresses. Thank you and nice to be patient. You've heard from much better speakers than I am as to the details of this project and what this project means to households of people in the South and anyone who has been through a drought or lived in a community in which you have to share and ration water. I think we can all empathize and sympathize with the people in the South who for so long have had to try to go through the logic of when it rains, you don't get water. It's the funniest thing and those persons who've been to the Great Sintake understand that when it rains, the mud comes up because the mud comes up, they have to turn off the pumps and they can't get the water and as the community has been growing, instead of seeing more water, it's been more rationing that's taking place. The reality is that while it's been affecting households, it's also been affecting the development of the South because which company that's going to depend on water is really going to invest in the South. So when it hears, when they hear politicians talk about a term that I know that many people in View Fort have come to resent, the New Frontier, when they hear that term, it doesn't compute in their head. What are they trying to say to me? Now, in understanding the term New Frontier, what does it mean or what did it mean? And certainly it is way before my time and in speaking to some persons, the New Frontier represented the word potential, the possibility that everybody saw View Fort and saw this land, beautiful land, saw an airport and saw a depot or harbor and you could not but say potential. And we have to ask ourselves, what does the word potential mean? And it means having or showing the capacity to become into something in the future, to develop into something great into the future. And then in that, there is a word called capacity and capacity means the amount something can produce. So I was to say to you, does View Fort have potential? I don't think there is a person who says that they can't see that View Fort has potential. And when you ask, does View Fort have capacity? Again, you would have to use it as potential capacity because without water, it doesn't have the capacity. So it means that View Fort could never reach its full potential without the development of water. Good luck. Doesn't matter how many persons speak before me or before us that claim to have realized the potential. People for a long time have realized the potential. The Americans understood the potential of View Fort when they put down the Army base here. They understood the potential. So the question is, why has it taken so long to get to today? Why? And the answer to that is commitment and ability. And that is one thing that I pride, take pride in, is that this administration has shown the ability to identify potential and to build the capacity to take advantage of that potential. I dare say, since the construction of the John Compton Dam that we have not seen a chairman of Wasco and a minister responsible for Wasco attend them, because it's teamwork. Combined with a group of individuals that prior to 2016, I have to say that the Wasco company was probably one of the ones that people thought that needed the greatest amount of help. In fact, it was on the verge of collapse. And two individuals and a board came in and have made an unbelievable difference with the same people, the same workers. That's what leadership is about. Leadership is not being given the best. It's making the people that you have and the things that you have into the best. That's what leadership is about. And I really have to say to you that what Ezekiel Joseph as the minister and Mr. Dembo have achieved in the last four years is remarkable, really. The dam that money was being collected, but no work was being done. Denry, Miku, Souffre, and now Vue Fort. All these places were in dire need of capacity. And they have delivered on their promise and they have delivered and put capacity in, which now allows the government to expand. And that's really what I wanted to focus on today. Is that this water project is critical in developing the capacity of the South. Expanding the UNORA International Airport is about building capacity in the South. Looking to do something simple could have been done years ago to bring a cruise ship berth to Vue Fort. Who could not see that that needed to happen? Who can't see the potential of tours between Vue Fort and Souffre and between Vue Fort and Denry? Who could not see that castries was choking with traffic? And that there was new opportunities and the cruise industry could come in and give immediate injection of economic growth into the South? Who could not see that? And why up until now, no one is making it happen? I can say to you that this leadership will make it happen. Sandy Beach, other than the reef, and I keep on forgetting the name, Island Breeze. What are the jobs that they have on this beach? How much foreign exchange is this beach generating? And so how do we take advantage of that beach with never displacing the local use of the beach and take what we've learned from tourism? And so the idea of converting the concrete road into a boardwalk and subdividing the land in the back and putting in water, electricity, and sewage and creating an investment that local business persons, regional business persons could invest in to build small guest houses, to build apartments, to build office spaces, to build commercial centers, on what? Economically viable land. That I can build a small hotel in a community which is safe and has other facilities and that my guests can enjoy to cross the boardwalk and go enjoy the public beach. And how does that work? Because we know with the cruise ship industry what we're attempting to do is home porting. So there are people who were gonna arrive a couple of days earlier and there are people who are gonna stay a couple of days later and now they don't even have to leave of your fault. They have it right here. And now we're taking land that lays dormant that generates no taxes for this country, generates no jobs for this country and put it into a facility that allows again local entrepreneurs to jump on. Why? We've had tourism since the 70s. Look at the experience of room division managers, the experience of chefs, the experience of front desk managers, the experience of even general managers who are St. Lucia who now want to run their own business and we're now gonna create the capacity, the opportunity for them to be able to do so. And so Invest St. Lucia is making that investment and Governor St. Lucia and the Ministry of Finance will support it with unprecedented incentives in order to encourage the bankers to come in. That is gonna happen in the South. We've also realized that there is a movement to the South. Why? Maybe some of you have not added it up yet. We're talking that in the next three to four years, we're going to see an investment of approximately one billion EC dollars here in the South. One billion dollars. Between the airport, road developments, water, DSH project, canals project, the investment in Sandy Beach, the brewery, Ojo Labs, Itel BPO, and that doesn't even include the cruise ship facility. Doesn't even include that. And so we're already starting to see that people are now starting to migrate to the South and we knew that. And that's why yesterday we were in Choiselle at La Fag, breaking ground on housing development. We're gonna go and celebrate the opening of Beauchamp. And pretty soon we'll do in the groundbreaking of Ouellette. And we have housing developments being done by the private sector, as well as by the public sector here in the South in View Fort. So the South is on the move. And today, while we're here to celebrate the water, the water is one component of what we are intending to do here in the South. Why this emphasis on the South? Because the South was the new frontier. The South was the greatest opportunity for growth in this country. I did an analysis because again, you see I'm using two words, capacity and potential. And I keep saying to us as solutions. It's not about growing your economy by 3% or 4% or 5%. That's not determines whether you're successful or not. Is are you growing enough to meet the capacity and the potential of your country? And I see in Aruba, an island of 70 square miles, 106,000 people. They have a per capita GDP of $25,000 US. We have 11,000. They have a GDP of $2.65 billion. And so if you divide the 70 square miles into the $2.65 billion, they have an output of $38 million per square mile. Senusia has an output of $9 million per square mile. What does Aruba have? 15,000 hotel rooms, no agriculture, no manufacturing, no offshore financial services, just hotels. I have to ask myself the question. We have 4,500 hotel rooms. Is there the capacity to absorb 15,000 hotel rooms in Senusia? Yes, but guess what? The View Fort and the South has to play an instrumental role in making that happen. And when we look at putting those rooms, are we seeing that we're displacing agriculture? Are we displacing manufacturing? Are we displacing our offshore financial services? No. And this argument as to whether we need to diversify, of course we need to diversify. But as a small island, the amount of things you can diversify into are going to be limited. So the hotel sector gives us an opportunity to market our rum, market our clothing, market our music to the world. Our bananas, by having a brand of Senusia on our bananas, that every time they eat a banana in Senusia, they see the brand. And the idea of getting those bananas into Barbados, getting those bananas into Antigua, so that the tourists, the British tourists there can see them. That if you have home porting here with P&O, 150,000 British tourists a year, get them to be eating the bananas every day. Get them to know what banana bread is. Let's now develop a banana chocolate rum cake. Let us diversify the use of our banana products. That those tourists, when they go back home and they go to Sainsbury and Rayrose, what are they going to see? Senusia banana. And imagine, without that right now, they are buying our bananas and paying more. Imagine if we make the link for them and develop an incredible memory that when they eat a banana in Senusia, how sweet it is. And that every single time they eat that banana back in the UK, they're going to think of how incredible and sweet Senusia is and they can't wait to come back. Those businesses eventually will be successful enough that they don't depend on tourism. Our chairman's rum. How much marketing would they have to do to compete against the other rums of the world? Whereas when tourists come down here, taste our rum, enjoy our rum. When they go back home, when they go to the grocery store, they're going to see the bottle. And we're going to be able to make even more sales. We must stop believing in the false prophets. Those persons that continue to talk to you about the new frontier and cannot bring it to realization. And that everything that we're going to do that we find fault in before we even take the first step, that's the difference with this administration. We are committed to a vision and the potential of this country. This government is not just about big projects. This government is about improving the quality of life of our citizens. That's why St. Jude's Hospital. And it is an ambitious administration with foresight that would put a helicopter pad on top of St. Jude's. Why? Because the intention is to provide a quality of healthcare that doesn't exist in St. Lucia right now. And that the persons from the north now can take a helicopter down when they need to and come down to St. Jude's to the south. Because we want to make Viewfort not into the best city or town in St. Lucia. We want to make Viewfort into an international city. That's what our ambition is, because we think that that's the potential, not only of the land of Viewfort, but of the people of Viewfort. How tired the people of Viewfort must be of hearing that they don't have the skills, that they don't have the work ethic. But I believe they do. I believe that people from Viewfort and the people from south can compete against the best in the world. This government intends to make sure that you have the capacity and the opportunity to show the world what St. Lucia can do. Accompanying to me today is a young lady who I have a tremendous amount of respect for. Whenever you see me wearing my white hat with the long horn on it, it really is for her. Her name is Julian Alfred. And she needs to be a household name in this country. Because Julian has now become, and I can say that proudly, the fastest woman in the world. And she is our greatest potential for winning an Olympic medal at the next Olympics if hopefully they take place next year. But the story about Julian that I love is that when Julian was a young girl and she went to a tournament in Trinidad and Tobago and a Jamaican coach told her of what he thought her potential was. She came back home and she didn't ask her mother whether she could go to Jamaica. She told her mother, I'm going to Jamaica. And in going to Jamaica, she got to compete against some of the toughest people, toughest competitors in the world and beat them. And got a scholarship to go to University of Texas. And she has recorded some of the fastest times this year in the United States. But you see, she had potential and she had to go outside of San Lucia in order to develop that potential. That's why we have a dream of turning the Marcelin grounds into a major sporting facility and converting Beanfield School into another sports academy. So we would have two sports academy, one up in the north, one in the south. And without having the track and without having the proper competition, we'll never be able to achieve your fullest potential. So for the sake of San Lucia, we need the south to start coming close to achieving its potential. And this government will continue to make sure that we're investing in the capacity to allow the south to thrive and become even more than just the new frontier, but to become the frontier. I thank you.