(PLP PR Media Inc.) — Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for the construction of the Heroes Park, Mr Osbert DeSuza, is assuring the general public that the park will be ready for the observance of the 2017 National Heroes Day on Saturday September 16.
Talking to this media on Tuesday September 12 at the Heroes Park, Mr DeSuza said: “We are here making the necessary preparations for the ceremony to mark our National Heroes Day which will be held on Saturday September 16. I have with me a number of workers from the Parks and Beaches and a number of workers from the Public Works Department.”
Notwithstanding the valuable time the work crews at the park lost during the passage of Hurricane Irma, Mr DeSuza pointed out that they were making substantial progress in their preparations, and were at that time setting up platforms following which tents would be erected on them.
According to the Permanent Secretary, who was not just supervising the work but manually doing it along with the other workers, seats would be put under the tents. The seats will be used by dignitaries and government officials during the observance of the 2017 National Heroes Day on Saturday September 16.
“As you may have seen from the photos taken earlier, the park has come a very long way in a short space of time and I am very happy as the PS with responsibility for this project that we are having to reach this stage to have the park in a state of readiness for the National Heroes Day ceremony in 2017,” concluded Mr DeSuza.
Additional workforce at the Heroes Park is in the form of trainees from the Skills Training Empowerment Programme (STEP). According to Mr William Phillip, STEP Supervisor, currently there are 40 trainees helping with the work at the park, making sure that they get everything in place for the Heroes Day.
The men and women from the Skills Training Empowerment Programme are quite dedicated in what they are doing as they are cognisant of the fact that at the end of their training stint they will leave the programme with a skill that they can use in future either as employees or even in self-employment.
When asked by this media if the park will be ready for the observance of the 2017 National Heroes Day on Saturday September 19 Mr Phillip said: “Way before Friday we will be finished. Yes, we will be already completed.”
The STEP Supervisor added: “The STEP guys are taking the job seriously – it is a learning process, and it is all part of the training. They are very enthusiastic and they are really willing to work and the reason we are sure that we will have completed what we are doing here before Saturday. They are getting very good practice here, as what we are seeing is a lot of carpentry and a lot masonry, so they are getting very good practice.”
Mr Phillip observed that the programme changed from the People Employment Programme (PEP) to Skills Training Empowerment Programme (STEP) as what they are receiving is a training that will be useful to them when they leave the programme. He stated that the previous programme (PEP) was only meant to keep persons employed without the training component.
“STEP is a training programme and we are involving the trainees in the programme presently into more training type,” said Mr Phillip. “They are into skills-based operations so each person now on the STEP programme is getting a chance to learn a trade so that they can go out and display what they have learnt and actually build themselves.”