A USD 1.5 million loan from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) will fund the cost of remedial work after the torrential rains Saint Lucia experienced in 2022.
Tuesday’s House of Assembly sitting approved the Public Finance Management Act, permitting the Government of Saint Lucia to borrow the money.
Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre told parliament that the funds would cover the cost of clean-up and reconstruction work in response to damage to infrastructure caused by heavy rainfall in November 2022.
On November 6 that year, an upper-level trough caused severe flooding and landslides in the north and other parts of Saint Lucia.
Pierre told parliament the result was “damage of USD9.5 million… as determined by the ministry of infrastructure.”
At the sitting, Infrastructure Minister Stephenson King commented, “When the November 6 rain came …we immediately got the response of the CDB who came to Saint Lucia, launched the mission and said that they would provide us with what is termed IRL, to help address the damage…”
An IRL is an Immediate Response Loan.
According to King, “It took almost a year awaiting the CDB to release those funds, and four months to the year, they indicated that we should proceed and do whatever we can do.”
The minister declared that based on that directive, the ministry identified projects for completion within four months.
He added, “We spent USD2.477 million on that programme. So in other words, we have spent more money in terms of the works done while we awaited the IRL to bring some relief to the people of Gros Islet, Babonneau, Castries North, Anse La Raye, Canaries and Castries South East… it means the government has expended at least USD 1million more than we have received from this loan to deal with the situation.”
Prime Minister Pierre outlined the CDB loan conditions.
“In terms of repayment, the Government of Saint Lucia shall repay amount withdrawn from the loan account in 60 equal installments, payable in 5 years, at an interest [rate] of 0.75%, and the government shall not be charged any commitment fee,” he told parliament.
For his part, Minister King reiterated that there remains “an additional USD6-7 million [worth] of work to be done” as it relates to infrastructural damage caused by the upper-level trough in 2022.
File photo of effect of flooding in Corinth.
