Last Updated on January 17, 2020, 2:08 PM AST by Anthony Morris
The Minister of Tourism, the honourable Lindsay Grant has claimed that the joint effort between the CARICOM Development Fund (CDF) and National Unity Government has seen a steady renovation of the area at South Frigate Bay popularly known as “De Strip”.
During the Press Conference of St Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Timothy Harris Grant stated that work on the area has been progressing on a steady pace as “the CDF is a perfectionist for procedure and process. Due to this, it has taken longer than anticipated for the findings sometimes to materialize.”
Grant said that as recently as in December 2019, they have put in for the funds by CDF, which is their portion of funds, over the Phase One of the project, which would enable them again to ramp up the project. He said If you have driven over there recently you would realize that people are back to work on that project.
Tourism Minister stated that the project consists of two components, the seaside and landside.
“Presently we are working on the landside area, which includes the the exit, entrance area and the bathrooms on the side to the pond. We have fixed up the road already,” the minister said.
He further stated that the entrepreneurs at “De Strip” appreciate work that is being done so far and have “stepped up their game.”
“If you have gone over there recently you have witnessed new bars, refurbishment of bars anticipating the kind of business that they would generate in the close future,” he said.
Grant said that a lot of work is also being carried out on the effluent at the project site.
“That has been an issue over past 20-30 years where the effluent has not been properly disposed of,”Minster said.
He said that they are ensuring that in this environment friendly world they make sure dispose of the effluent carried out in a proper manner. He said that this is being done, it cannot be physically witnessed from the top but they are going to connect into the Marriott system and that is taking them a significant amount of money. He said It is going to take them cost over a million dollar to make sure it is done.
In terms of the seaside, he said that work will start very soon.
Minster Grant said that they had some marine engineers in from Jamaica over the past eight months who have done some surveys in terms of the waves and wind action in terms of the seaside.
“Frigate Bay is losing some of its beach and the project will ensure that the beach is not lost altogether,” stated Grant.
He said that they have done that wind and wave action survey by the marine engineers over an eight-month period. He said that they are now going to begin the work on the seaside in terms of putting in groins and breakwaters to amke sure that the beach comes back and then we put in the boardwalk, which they intended to do.
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
