BVI must borrow to improve infrastructure — Premier
Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley has reaffirmed that the territory must seek loan funding to facilitate the execution of its much-needed infrastructure projects.
Premier Wheatley gave that indication while speaking at a press briefing recently and said this is one of several approaches his government is considering to resolve the infrastructure challenges faced by the territory.
The Premier noted that the United Kingdom (UK) has already been engaged on the issue, and said the prospect of moving outside the ratios of the BVI’s borrowing guidelines has also been broached.
According to Dr Wheatley, the UK has been very supportive in this regard.
“We have made a commitment to borrow because, of course, as you know, we’ve had quite a bit of damage since the 2017 storms,” the Premier stated.
“[The current state] doesn’t reflect our economy and it doesn’t reflect what it is we want for ourselves,” the Premier said. “So we’re very much committed to borrowing, to improving our infrastructure and giving us that world-class infrastructure that our people deserve.”
In the meantime, the Premier assured residents that his government will ‘borrow responsibly’ and will seek out the best interest rates that are available.
“We’ll borrow in such a way that we know that we can service, and then, of course, we’ll have a phased approach to development,” he explained.
The territory’s leader also pointed to the possibility of public-private partnerships and other alternative funding arrangements which he said allow persons to make contributions.
Dr Wheatley also promised to speak very soon about a Resilience Fund which is expected to help in facilitating this option. However, it was not made clear whether this is the same fund he mentioned a few months ago.
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We the people require full transparency, accountability and good governance on all of that spending. Additionally we want properly planned, designed and executed projects – no more slap dash rubbish that won’t stand the test of time.
Maybe this is a dumb question, but why don’t we just use tax money to fix the roads, the schools and the hospitals?
When people start borrowing money to pay for normal things, it is a sign you are living beyond your means.
Stop the foolish spending. Start spending on roads,schools and hospitals!
ALL THE OTHER CARIBBEAN COUNTRIES PASSED US AND LEFT US IN THEIR REAR-VIEW MIRRORS
One of the financial pillars of the bvi is under serious attack. This time not the expats but the locals are being blamed for their unholy antics and devious ways to extort money from tourist. Whether true or not I do not know, what I do know is that the local community is in an uproar. How can they say that about our beautiful God fearing island.
One more thing that I know to be true a certainly lady I would refer to as Mrs Wrong who is connected to a particular business that collect dead bodies, made some unsavory remarks towards expats. She even went further and spread blatant untruths about visiting other islands and seeing how filthy those islands were.
Question 1 for the Wrong lady. Tell me which Caribbean country you have been to and you saw just once raw sewage running in the streets.
Question 2, have you seen the prestine condition of the Bahamas and more so Barbados.
Question 3, when are you going to apologise to your caricom neighbors for your unchristian and ungodly false statement.
What is the goodly Mr Wright saying about it. You have expat employees how do they feel about your recent characterization of them as dirty and their homeland.
Mes Wright but mainly WRONG we are waiting for an apology. I am calling all expats to refrain and resist from supporting this wrong lady.
UK is not interested, China cares about the Caribbean, let’s get them to help us!
The answer is because the BVI economy does not generate enough tax revenue in its current state to fix the roads, schools, hospitals, even if all the corruption was wiped out. The fact is that the BVI has shrunk in size due to the hurricane, to losing the charter industry to the USVI and stupid licensing laws, no investment after being seen as a drug-running hole. BVI done messed up badly. It needs new blood and money to put it back together.
According to this statement roads, sewage, electricity, and water were all in good condition before Irma and Maria. Nonsence. Stop giving money and contracts to friends and start using qualified contractors, closed tenders, and professional supervision and approval before payment is made.
Yea they have because MOST of them have welcomed foreign investors. BVI has not been open to this as yet.
Government is already so inefficient, they can make some immediate savings by getting rid of useless employees and use that money to fix the infrastructure
… and by voting most of the same idiots back, it shows that the BVI really doesn’t have a future
What happened to the billions of revenue the Government has received since the 1980s? The annual government budget has never been less than UDS$250m in the last 15 years. It was over US$400m last year, I believe.
Where did that money go? Why do we have Third World infrastructure and terrible public education?
As the Government is at their limit for borrowing in the financial protocols the only way to borrow is to cut enough Government expenses to show that the savings will pay the loan debt. Given that the majority of the budget goes to Government employees the most expedient way to reduce expenses is to reduce Government employment. Start with no new hiring; as employees age out don’t replace them. Transfer all Government employees to Social Security for their retirement, including elected officials and all service boards. Make whatever payments are needed to SS, but with everyone contributing SS will be much more robust and will be able to afford to increase the benefits.
Everybody Barrows. We need to borrow and spend wisely, get valu for money..Fix the right good and fix the roads right..Right across from us in SK they have some the best Roads in the Caribbean find out what they did, how they did it..We can’t have Road damaged Issues every time a 30 mins rain comes down..
Might I ask borrow from who sir? Asking for a friend. Imf, world Bank?
How do we know we not going to become economic slaves due to this decision example like how Jamaica became slaves to the IMF etc. Need details and transparency for sure.
KEEP AWAY FROM OUR SOCIAL SECURITY MONEY
Sowande don’t mind the fools who here talking nonsense and in 4 years will be glad to say you did nothing. Get the people around the table, plans in place, funding secured responsibly and get the place fixed/people to work. Give the RDA a further 5 year mandate to deal with roads, water, waste management. They have proven that they can get projects completed properly and within budget. Get this place going please!
You the people want confusion, that’s what you want. Our budgets are public documents, how many of you even read them? You just love to hear yourselves complain over and over again and pretend to care with nothing meaningful to put forward.
Truth be told. The BVI is not open to outside investors. BVI is open to the opposite – those who export money.
I hope that is not where they plan on borrowing from because they took enough as grants. They do not care for the elderly, so I expect to get my social security to take care of me.
hope they’re not going to borrow money and give to their cronies like they did last term. the same work was there to be done and was left undone while the funds was given away.
Politicians and civil servants have done nothing for our infrastructure over the past 30 years, despite having huge budgets, so there is no hope that anything will change. Indeed, with the voters electing most of the same failures who have done nothing to improve the fabric of our society, nothing will change for the next 5 years and the gradual deterioration of our infrastructure will just continue.
And guess what? When you can pay back China you know what happens?? They own it. All part of the Silk Road movement by china. I saw they recently built a cargo port through a Loan in Antigua . Better keep up with the payments or else it will not only be Chinese made but also Chinese owned .
Every time I read headlines like this one and hear persons mention the RDA it just makes me sad.
The RDA was set up to manage the spending of any money borrowed under the UK loan agreement. No money was borrowed, what is the purpose of the RDA?
It was said that the conditions were too ‘strict’. Yet no one has said what those conditions are. At this point no matter who the money is borrowed from our necks will be under someone’s foot.
The BVI needed only to accept the guarantee and borrow within the parameters that kept them within the borrowing guidelines.
so, we don’t want to allow foreign investors and franchises, but we want to borrow money? The lenders have many friends in the franchise and conglomerates industries around the world. We thought the world rotating around the BVI but reality coming in now, especially after Irma and Covid-19. Look at how untidy and unattractive East End looks! Our so-called international airport located in untidy and ghetto east end. I was walking on Little Dix hill down to the police station…that road looks and smells sooo bad! the place dutsy and the road so nasty and ghetto! Fix it.
He just want to make himself look good with power that’s all he just turn this country into all kind of people hands wow. He know it’s a ghetto but he fails to see or maybe he just wilful or don’t care. To much talking fix it 7d is yours my God he’s very heartless.
To much talking more action fix it 7d is yours my God he’s very heartless.
All these problems because we are following another mans way of life to our detriment. Our way is called corrupt.
No to borrowing no to financial slavery. We know the borrower is slave to the lender!
Have some decency & respect to our ancestors and the struggle we have come out of.
Yet todays leaders want to walk back into slavery under the very race & nation that trafficked and enslaved our African people.
We have not forgotten that Britain was one of the most invested into the slave trade. Act like you have sense please.
Who is going to lend ? With our track record interest rates would be out of site, but it’s our money not Slowies so he’ll spend spend spend