Rymer bemoans limited funds for projects
Minister of Communications and Works Kye Rymer has raised concerns about the limited resources available to tackle the pressing infrastructural needs in the Virgin Islands despite this year’s record-setting budget.
During the budget debate, Rymer described his ministry’s challenges in addressing critical infrastructure issues.
“The reality is our roads are in bad shape. Water is inconsistent. People are crying out for reliable and consistent water,” Rymer said. He noted that families continue to struggle with escalating costs of living, and many are forced to rely on multiple incomes to make ends meet.
Although the government secured a $100 million loan to improve infrastructure, Rymer stressed that funding remains inadequate for the scale of the work required.
“With this budget, we are about to plant some seeds that will most definitely be seen for a prosperous future for us here in these Virgin Islands,” Rymer said. So, those seeds would derive from this largest budget that I am quite happy to be about because it’s still never enough, but you know, it’s like you have to work with what you have.”
Progress
He acknowledged the progress made by his ministry over the past year, including road rehabilitation projects and the installation of 3,000 feet of upgraded water pipes in areas prone to flooding.
“It’s tough driving on our roadways. It’s tough not having access to water, but we will get them addressed,” he said.
Rymer highlighted several completed and ongoing projects under his ministry, such as upgrades to sewerage infrastructure, road repairs in various districts, and the relaunch of the community bus service. He also announced plans to expand the airport and improve the water infrastructure, which he said are crucial for the territory’s development.
The minister commended the Premier and his team for their efforts in securing funds but stressed that planning alone is insufficient without the resources to implement projects.
“If you don’t have the funds to achieve these plans, they will just remain as plans,” he remarked.
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Governments spend money where they think their priorities lie. What does this article tell you about this (and past) administration’s priority towards maintaining and improving the infrastructure? They look absurd.
One hand govt recently spent something like $2 million on less than a mile of road, which works out to around $ 3.2 million per mile, knowing that the Territory (or is that just Tortola) has 38 miles that need fixing, Simple math (CXC level) tells you then that around $ 122 million are needed to fix all the roads.
On the other hand, the govt borrows $ 100 million, saying it’s to fix roads, NHI, and just about anything else, and happily informs the media of how they plan to allot the funds but the totals of their proposed allocations as reported on line add up to $ 100 million. And, we still don’t know where the $ 1 million/month needed to pay the monthly note is coming from.
Bottom line: roads will not be fixed (other than patches) in any meaningful way anytime soon, but there might be a couple of parties along the way.
The billions of government revenue and expenditure that came in over the last 30 years have been squandered or stolen.
The then government refused the $400m UK loan guarantee because it came with conditions of (a) not being stolen; and (b) competent external contractors to do the work with external supervision. Because so little public infrastructure got fixed properly post Irma; it has just got worse and worse since 2017.
So here we are; nothing works; it looks like a dustbin for tourists and it is becoming hard to recruit well qualified professionals from overseas for financial services.
And we have significant gun crime.
and the kicker is they would of paid the same in interest payments back on the $400m loan as they are going to with the $100m loan.
AND AINT FINISHING NONE
Take it from the premier’s travel budget