House of Assembly repairs to be completed by February
By next February, elected leaders should be able to resume sittings in the House of Assembly’s (HOA) designated Road Town location as repairs are set to be finished in two months.
The timeline for those repairs was recently given by the Clerk of the HOA when the Standing Finance Committee (SFC) met to take an in-depth look at the 2023 budget allocations.
In that meeting of the (SFC) it was confirmed that there are five outstanding contracts for repairs to the building.
The HOA Clerk also confirmed that the 2023 budget doesn’t have any allocations to cover transportation for HOA members who don’t reside on Tortola and have to travel to the HOA for sittings or other priorities.
In the meantime, Minister for Education, Youth Affairs and Sports, Shari de Castro inquired about any HOA funds allocated for the Youth Parliament. She told the Standing Finance Committee that funds were needed for the Youth Parliament to operate effectively.
However, the Clerk stated that there are no funds allocated for the Youth Parliament.
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Why it took so long in the first place?
It’s about time that the government and civil service realized that running a country requires long term investment in infrastructure and maintenance. It’s a damning judgement on their failure in this over the years that government buildings are not yet fixed after Irma (inadequate or no insurance cover), or are filled with mould, bad wiring and plumbing, etc. Unfortunately, the priorities of Government expenditure now mean that there is no money for a Youth Parliament. That is the right decision. We must get the foundations of our future development in place first before we spend on other matters.