 The proposed redevelopment of Bannon Bay, Port Castries, Port Souffre and the Souffre Waterfront by Global Cruise Operator, Global Ports Holding, GPH, has been a matter of interest since the Government of St. Lucia made the announcement last year. On Tuesday evening, a representative from GPH joined the Chairman of the Souffre Regional Development Foundation, Ernest Auger, to address the community's concerns. The Chairman of the SRDF urged members of the Souffre community to approach the proposal with an open mind. We observe there is potential. There is a lot, a lot of potential in Souffre as a tourist destination. We are just beginning to scratch the surface. We are yet to recognize the true potential of Souffre as a major tourism dollar owner. We are yet to recognize the true potential. There is a lot of potential in Souffre, the waterfront, our natural sites, the springs, the pitos, and so our aim now is how can we take these assets and accrue much more benefit to the people of Souffre in particular and to the national post. Another representative from GPH, Dr. Sean Matthew, explained that the plans for Souffre will be expansive. However, it will not affect any revenue already being collected by the Souffre Regional Development Foundation, SRDF, or the Souffre Marine Management Association, SMMA. According to him, GPH is the largest cruise port operator in the world and has assisted in improving the cruise facility for many countries around the world, including the Caribbean. Souffre, he says, will be no exception. So we have looked at the waterfront in its entirety. We have looked at it from the market all the way down to Baron's Drive. We've also looked at a beach facility that is towards the Anshasne side and we are looking at providing to Souffre an amphitheater boardwalks, increased birthing facilities. In fact, the intent and initial designs has the birthing facilities improved by more than 200 percent. Members of the public got the opportunity to fire their burning questions at the representative, all of which were answered. The tourism dollars seem to be just in the hands of few persons and we think that there's a lot more that Souffre can benefit from the tourist industry and we are concerned that is this another play and this time a foreign one at that looking to exploit Souffre again. So how exactly will this project benefit the ordinary person in Souffre local? In anything we do in any island that we go into, first and foremost, there are no foreign employment because we believe we can train our locals to get it done. So that's number one. When we look at the waterfront, we start off with the amphitheater, we come down, we clean and we beautify the walkway. One will provide a number of kiosks all the way down to as far as we can go, maybe as far as the gas station and that will be provided for the lease rental of local entrepreneurs. The key thing about the waterfront is that we are trying to create an attraction in itself to allow the tourists to see there as a location to come in as well as the stayovers and locals where they can interact with the Souffre population and actually enjoy another aspect of Souffre. According to Dr. Matthew, Tuesday's meeting was just the first phase of consultation with the community of Souffre. He says the goal upon completion of the project is for the reimagined Souffre waterfront to feature enhanced docking facilities and new retail spaces for local vendors. From the Souffre Original Development Foundation, I am Jeanive Gonzague.