Jessups Nevis (CUOPM) — Minister of Foreign Affairs, Labour, Justice and Legal Affairs, the Hon. Patrice Nisbett has been highlighting several social and infrastructural development projects in Nevis 11 in particular and that island in general.
Mr. Nisbett, a member of the Nevis Reformation Party, said the NRP has always been a people cantered organisation and did embarked on an extensive programme of constructing and modernizing community centres throughout Nevis, when it formed the Nevis Island Administration.
“It has provided for the first time in the areas of Jessups, Barnes Ghaut, Cotton Ground, Fountain and Combermere (Franklin Browne) with state of the art community facilities. These facilities symbolize the NRP’s contribution to the process of community development and its commitment to ensuring that the environment we engender for the people of Nevis 11 is a just, inclusive and a more cohesive Society that works for all,” said Mr. Nisbett at the recent Federal Government-sponsored “Conversations for Progress.”
He said members of these communities will be able to access a wide range of training, education and self-development activities that add value to their lives and the communities.
Minister Nisbett is of the view that with the improve road network, the increase in the bigger and better housing, the improvement in the social fabric of the community, increasing educational opportunities for people and the further strengthening of the security apparatus in Nevis 11, it has created the enabling and conducive environment to attract investment to the Constituency.
“We in Nevis are not so lucky to have oil to produce electricity. Hence producing power has been a very expensive venture for NEVLEC. The world’s energy future is uncertain. The wind is a free energy source, widely available and will never run out. Electricity generated from the wind will be vital in building a secure and sustainable energy future that will help keep the lights on in Nevis,” pointing out that it was an NRP Administration that commissioned a wind farm in the Parish of St James – the first such commercial facility located anywhere in the Eastern Caribbean.
He said wind energy can bring many benefits as it generates and creates local jobs, both in the construction and ongoing maintenance of wind energy projects, bringing direct economic benefits to communities.
“The wind farm has brought a sense of ownership to the people of St. James and it has inspired young people to engage their minds in areas that are related to renewable energy,” said Minister Nisbett.
In reporting what he described as “the relentless crusade of transforming the entire constituency of Nevis 11 into a symphony of development and people empowerment,” Mr. Nisbett pointed out that the march forward has been chartered with magnificent skill by the men and women of the Nevis Reformation Party.
He said the area that he represents, Nevis 11, is by far the largest constituency in terms of physical land mass on Nevis.
“It encompasses Craddock Road in the west to New River in the South and chartering the course of development in Nevis 11, was led by Joseph W. Parry and NRP and Patrice Nisbett was always there,” said Mr. Nisbett.
He told a standing room only at the Jessup’s Community Center, with hundreds outside viewing on a large screen monitor that in 2006, the Parry-led NRP Government on assuming office met the Island Main Road from Gingerland to the New Castle Airport “in a sick state of disrepair with ravines winding their way in the middle of the road.”
“Recall that the road here at Jessup’s connecting the villages of Barnes Ghaut and Cotton Ground was nearly impassable and in certain areas it consisted of two strips,” said Mr. Nisbett.
“It means that for many years the good people of Nevis 11 suffered from ruinous roads with high vehicle maintenance costs. The NRP-led NIA in 2006 in one act commenced the construction of the third Phase of the island Main Road from the Gingerland High School to Potworks and also constructed the road connecting the villages of Jessups, Barnes Ghaut and Cotton Ground thus bringing relief to the deprived people at Nevis 11,” he said.
“It is NRP who paved the entire road from Camps in the Atlantic East to Westbury in the Caribbean Sea West bringing much relief to the residents and the travelling public using the road in those areas. Lest we forget let me say aloud and proud that it was the this NRP Government that lifted up the people of Constituency 11 and gave us pride by ensuring that though we were the last to get paved roads in certain areas, we got the best roads paved on Nevis,” boasted Minister Nisbett, who joined the Federal Government of Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas in February 2010.
He pointed out too that in 2006, Nevis 11 had a sprinkling of affordable homes.
“Today the good people of Nevis can boast of a vastly improved housing stock. At Maddens you would be able to see the NRP investment in homes for our people. The housing revolution was ignited under NRP and is evident at Jessups, Colquhouns, Eden Brown, Shaws Road, and all the far reaches of this vast parish. There are so many young persons who have been elevated to the privilege status of proud homeowners,” said Minister Nisbett, who was at the head table with Prime Minister Douglas and the President of the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College (CFBC), Dr. Kelvin Daley.
“From village to village, the NRP has ensured that our children are fed in the school meals programme and our good people are sheltered in the houses we constructed under our various housing programmes,” said Mr. Nisbett.
He also said that the NRP Administration also distributed land throughout Nevis 11, to persons who were desirous to own a piece of the rock to construct their own homes and this was separate and apart from lands that are allocated under the affordable housing programme.
“We did ensured that as these distributions were done, the attendant physical infrastructure was put in to the comfort and convenience of the prospective homeowners., all in an effort to empower the people and build communities that are conducive to family life,” Mr. Nisbett said.
“The truth is the same in health, computer literacy programmes, homework assistance, education, agriculture and all government services. When this government took the reins of power these services and programmes were either non-existent or dormant,” said Minister Nisbett.
He told the audience and thousands listening via the internet and radio that it was the NRP Government that built barracks for the police at Butlers.
“This was done to help keep the people of St. James safe. In Cotton Ground, the NRP also built a modern and state of the art Police Station, the first such facility to be built in the modern history of Nevis. Prior to 2006, the thought of building a police barrack at Butlers did not enter anybody’s contemplation. The JWP then charged with looking after the safety of his people came up with this novel idea that l have further strengthened in the overall police force and security on the island of Nevis,” said Minister Nisbett.
He said that in further developing the infrastructure in the area, the NRP-led NIA, embarked upon a programme of deep well drilling for water.
“As a result we were able to discover a well in St. James that adds 500,000 gallons of water per day to the distribution system island wide. Clearly this augurs well for the new touristic and other developments,” said Minister Nisbett.