NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (February 08, 2021) — The progress and quality of work on the construction of the Technical Wing at the Gingerland Secondary School (GSS) has received high marks from an Education official in the Nevis Island Administration (NIA).
Hon. Troy Liburd, Junior Minister of Education on Nevis expressed satisfaction with the level of work done on the construction of the state-of-the-art technical wing at the end of a tour of the construction site on February 08, 2021.
“I was very pleased to hear that we can expect the building to be somewhere close to completion by the commencement of the new school year. So our students who attend here at the Gingerland Secondary School could look forward to sometime in the near future or sometime in the next upcoming school year to start inhabiting and using this building.
“I know that all of the things that are going to happen here in this building when it’s complete they are only going to be for the benefit of our students and for the benefit of the island of Nevis. So I am very, very pleased with the progress. I am pleased with the workmanship and the level of work that I have seen. The level of work that I have seen is top quality. So I must say that I am very, very happy about what I have seen here,” he said.
Meantime, Mr. Oswald Wilfred, Construction Manager for Lefco Equipment Rental and Construction Company, contractor for the project acknowledged that construction was moving along well and gave an update on the status.
“So far in relation to progress, I could say that we are progressing fairly well. We hope to increase the progress as we move along to the finishing stages of the project which is happening soon probably in the month of February.
“We definitely feel that we should be able to bring in the project at the recommended time probably a little pass it but according to construction you normally have certain difficulties that you have to encounter,” he said.
Mr. Darius Comberbatch, Engineer for FDL Consult Inc. in St. Lucia, Consultants for the project noted that their main responsibility is to supervise the construction work of the contractor. He explained that according to the plan, progress at this stage is around 60 percent. However, they had fallen just short of that target.
“We are around 56 percent which is around 4 percent light which we believe with the contractors executing the works and continued progress we should be pleased to have the project completed before the start of the next school year which will be to everyone’s benefit,” he said.
The project forms part of the US$8 million St. Kitts and Nevis Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Enhancement Project, an initiative of the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis funded by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), the Federal Government and the NIA. It is being executed by the TVET Secretariat in the Ministry of Education in St. Kitts.
Also on the tour were Mr. Kevin Barrett, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education in the NIA; Mr. Dorson Ottley, TVET Officer in the Department of Education on Nevis and Mr. Lester Blackett Project Manager.
]]>NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (February 03, 2021) — Minister responsible for Water in the Nevis Island Administration (NIA) urged staff of the Nevis Water Department to be prepared to adapt in an ever-changing work environment.
The minister was at the time delivering an address to declare the Nevis Water Department Staff Retreat 2021 open. The one-day event was hosted at the Nevis Performing Arts Centre (NEPAC) on February 02, 2021, with the theme “Challenging yourself in a changing working environment.”
“It is important to bear in mind that water is connected to all sectors of our economy, so any changes in one sector can result in change in the working environment of the Nevis Water Department.
“Policy changes by the Nevis Island Administration will affect the working environment. You should however always have the mind-set that changes will occur and that the process of change will be dynamic and fluid. Therefore, you should challenge yourself to adapt in a fast-changing environment,” he said.
The retreat, a first in the department’s 37 years of operation was organised to give staff a better understanding of the department and its function and its role in Nevis; to sharpen skills to better serve the community; to meet and greet each other, and to discuss plans for 2021.
Mr. Brand recommend a number of ways in which the staff could challenge themselves, including the continuation of capacity building.
“I recommend that you continue to build capacity within the water department parallel with encouraging public participation and stewardship of our limited water resources. Timely information and bulletins should always be provided to customers, and they must continue to be educated on changes within the [water] sector.
“I do hope that in 2021 we would see more of this happening using social media, the radio and television to get messages and information to the general public,” he said.
The minister added that he is confident the staff can challenge themselves by collecting and collating data which would help to make better decisions, and to inform the policy makers as to which direction they should take the Nevis water sector. “This has to become a habit and should be deliberately practised by all stakeholders in the department,” he said.
Mr. Brand also encouraged the staff to improve team work in the execution of their duties this year. He noted that team work involves among other things, good communication skills, trust, respect, pooling of human capacity and sharing of ideas to achieve the department’s goals and objectives.
He reminded the management and staff that in the absence of team work in a changing environment they would be setting themselves up to fail.
“You have practiced team work in the recent past when you successfully implemented the CDB [Caribbean Development Bank] Water Supply Enhancement Project as the contractor; when you installed and commissioned the Hamilton water well and installation of the Water Filtration system.
“I have no doubt of your capability and I have every confidence in your collective abilities to continue to achieve great things together,” Minister Brand said.
Among those present at the event were Deputy Premier of Nevis Hon. Alexis Jeffers and Hon. Eric Evelyn.
]]>NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (November 27, 2020) – The Nevis Island Administration (NIA) is in the process of renegotiation its existing geothermal arrangement with NREI (Nevis Renewable Energy International) that would see consumers on Nevis paying less for the renewable energy when it comes on stream.
Hon. Mark Brantley, Premier of Nevis and Minister of Energy in the NIA, made the disclosure when he gave an update on the geothermal project, during his monthly press conference on November 26, 2020.
He explained that it was previously negotiated that the NIA would get 12.5 percent equity in the project in addition to a 10 percent royalty. The latest revision of the arrangement, he said, calls for a greater percentage of the savings being passed on to the consumers.
“We’ve had now to go back to look at that because the designation of royalty was not sitting so well with agencies that would provide funding, but funding on the basis that every penny of savings had to be passed on to the consumer.
“So we have had to go back to the drawing board to look and see how we do not dilute the interest of the people of Nevis…but at the same time, we pass on the maximum savings to them.
“I can tell you that based on the negotiations thus far, an initial price per kilowatt hour of US $0.19 has been renegotiated down to US $0.15 and we’re still working to see if we can bring that down even further,” he revealed.
Premier Brantley said based on information he has received, the NIA is going through the final iterations of the revised documentation for geothermal.
“I think that we are making good progress. The piece of that puzzle that was always the bugbear was the financing. The Caribbean Development Bank[CDB] has been very, very helpful to us. They’ve been involved with us now and we have a new company involved called Albioma, and of course the holder of the concession for Nevis is a company called NREI…
“They have been working along with a local group headed by our Legal Adviser Hélèn Lewis, also Dr. Ernie Stapleton, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of [Public] Works, and Minister Spencer Brand who is the local minister.
“So there’s been an ongoing discussion that has also included NEVLEC [Nevis Electricity Company Limited], which will be the off taker of the power, and so we are hopeful that after all this delay and all this time we will have some good news to report in short order,” he said.
Mr. Brantley expressed confidence that Nevis will successfully harness geothermal energy in light of the fact that the project is at an advanced stage, and experts have reported that Nevis possesses commercial grade viable geothermal resource.
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