by Emmanuel H. Joseph
Government Information Service
A contract for the construction of a major retaining wall on the Cochrane Road in Goodhope was signed on the afternoon of Wednesday 22nd July, 2009 at the Goodhope Resource Center.
The retaining is to be constructed at the cost of almost ninety-five thousand East Caribbean dollars (XCD$95 000.00) will be funded under the Dominica Social Investment Fund/European Union/Government of Dominica Social Programme. The wall construction is part of preparatory works to stabilise the area for the construction of a village road by the Government of Dominica. Augustus Daniel of Castle Bruce has been selected as the contractor for that project.
Among those attending the signing ceremony included the Honourable Prime Minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, Parliamentary Representative for the area and Honourable Minister for Community Development, Culture, Gender Affairs and Information, Loreen Bannis-Roberts, a representative of the European Union National Authorising Office in Dominica and representatives from the Dominica Social Investment Fund.
According to Hon. Prime Minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, the wall is the beginning of a long asked for project, the fixing up of the Cochrane Road in Goodhope. That component has already been approved and will start shortly.
“But all of us will appreciate that a good road network is very important for development to take place. I know we have to do the road way and I have been advised by the Ministry of Public Works that in addition to the ninety-four thousand, four hundred and seventy five dollars (XCD$94 475.00) that is required for the construction of the walls, you will need two hundred and twelve thousand dollars (XCD$212 000.00) in addition to that for the surfacing of the roads only. I am saying to you here, in Goodhope, that the Government has in fact approved this sum of money for the construction of the entire roadway. This road will commence immediately after the budget is passed in the first week of August.”
Hon. Prime Minister, Roosevelt Skerrit
The Dominica Social Investment Fund, DSIF, received funding from the European Union. This money was intended to help those communities suffering from the difficulties caused by the economic downturn in relation to banana trade. To date, the Dominica Social Investment Fund has approved a total of ten million, two hundred and fifty five thousand, two hundred and twenty one dollars and eighty cents (XCD$10 255 221.80) in projects across the length and breadth of Dominica. Besides national projects, eleven thousand six hundred and sixty-one (11 661) people have benefitted directly from DSIF. |
