By Caribbean News Global
CASTRIES, St Lucia – The parliament of Saint Lucia will convene on Tuesday, September 10, at 10:00 am and the Senate on September 11, at 10:00 am at the temporary location, the Finance Administrative Centre to guarantee XCD20M, borrow USD1.5M and pass legislation unanimously.
Members of the public “cannot be accommodated at this time” said the press release from the Parliament of Saint Lucia. The parliament’s chamber is under renovation.
Two motions and six bills are down for consideration to commence parliamentary proceedings at the temporary location.
Motions for consideration
Be it resolved that parliament authorizes the minister of finance to guarantee an amount of XCD20,000,000.00 (the loan) from the National Insurance Corporation on behalf of the Saint Lucia Development Bank (the Bank) to be utilized within the Housing Sector and Productive Sector of Saint Lucia.
The estimates of expenditure and revenue reads:
“The theme for the 2024-2025 estimates has been titled – the “Year of Infrastructure.” Our aim and objective are to transform the economy of Saint Lucia through infrastructural development: physical, social, and digital. In the upcoming financial year, we plan to focus on the following,” in part, “Line 10: Housing development in Roseau, Cas-en-Bas and Choc.”
“There will be something for everyone in this budget. As we improve our infrastructure, citizens can look forward to better roads, safer school plants, housing opportunities, and increased support for the poor and vulnerable members of our society.”
Section 9: Housing infrastructure, budget address 2024-2025 reads:
“ The government has taken the decision to leverage the Citizens by Investment Programme (CIP) to bring more direct benefit to the people of Saint Lucia. This year, we intend to construct houses under the CIP programme, as has been done in other islands. Areas initially earmarked for housing development are Rock Hall, where land clearing has commenced.
In Cas en Bas, Gros Islet, the National Housing Corporation has received DCA approval for the construction of multi-family complexes with fifteen two-bedroom apartments with construction to commence this year.
We have secured financing of a US$20M loan from the Import-Export Bank of the Republic of China on Taiwan (ROCT) for on-lending to Saint Lucians to construct new houses or buy residential lots. A new line of credit will be established at the Saint Lucia Development Bank to manage this new line of credit.”
Be it resolved that parliament authorizes the minister of finance to borrow USD1,500,000.00 from the Special Funds Resources of the Caribbean Development Bank (the Bank) to finance the emergency clean-up and restoration of critical public infrastructure projects (the loan).
The budget address for 2024-2025 reads in part:
“In December 2023, this government introduced an infrastructure option to complement the other funding options. The new infrastructure option requires developers to raise the financing needed to undertake approved projects in a number of selected areas and recover their expenses through CIP.
“This means … that improvement in the road network, community development projects, and housing can be implemented to improve the lives of our people without increasing the debt burden of the country.
In the first instance … we intend to start work immediately on the Beausejour Road, Vieux Sucre, Chaussee Road, Bagatelle Road, and Zabo to Belle Vue Road. All roads constructed will be supervised and certified by the Ministry of Infrastructure. Other details under this programme will be given by the minister.
“Given the experiences of projects, quality and time, a planning and design unit will be established to provide additional support staff to ensure better oversight of projects to allow for an improvement in the rate of implementation and the quality of project outputs. This Unit will also provide technical assistance and support to the existing staff of the ministry of infrastructure.”
Bills down for consideration
- Insolvency;
- Co-operatives Societies;
- Real Estate (Brokers and Agents);
- Eastern Caribbean Asset Management Corporation (Amendment);
- Money Laundering (Amendment;)
- Companies (Amendment).
Access to papers to be laid
Companies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill
Insolvency Act 4 September 2024 (1) (2)
Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill
Real Estate (Brokers and Agents) Bill Updated Co-operative Societies Act
In a statement on Monday, Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre, said:
“The Annual Report on Saint Lucia’s Citizenship by Investment program for the period April 1, 2022, to March 31, 2023, has been completed. This report will be presented to the cabinet and tabled in parliament upon the return of Dr Ernest Hilaire, the minister with responsibility for the C.I.P. program.
“The public can view the live proceedings on the National Television Network (NTN) channel 122, government of Saint Lucia Facebook and YouTube,” said the parliament press release, September 5, 2024.
