Money coming, says PM

Another 5,000 laptops are expected to be delivered to the students of St. Vincent and the Grenadines soon.{{more}}

Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves made this disclosure while addressing the ground breaking ceremony to mark the commencement of construction of the passenger terminal of the Argyle International Airport last Sunday, August 7.

He said that on August 16, the laptops, which are earmarked for primary and secondary school students, will be coming in from Venezuela, some of them for students just entering the first forms of secondary schools.

Dr. Gonsalves also called on those gathered at the airport site to look forward to a number of revenue generating projects that are being explored by his administration.

This includes the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding today, Friday, August 12, with world cocoa magnate Amajaro, which will signal the start of the cocoa project here.

“Then there is a poultry project with ECGC, which looks very promising. We know there is another one and we are working very hard to see if we can get one of those two poultry projects.”

He also heralded the return of a number of medical colleges to these shores, bringing over 500 students here in the next academic year.

“We have been looking for the medical schools. You know we have the Trinity School of Medicine. They have a hundred and something people already students, I understand they bringing in about 80 in September…. Then two other medical schools are coming in: All Saints, which was operating in Dominica, and the American University of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.”

“So prepare your house for rent, have your taxi, make your restaurants look good…”

The Prime Minister also announced that over the next three years, over $150 million dollars is expected to be pumped into the country starting at the end of this year.

“The World Bank loan of 13 and a half million EC dollars Emergency Recovery loan from the World Bank; the post Tomas loan… we will be ready to roll that out by the end this year, beginning of next year.”

“Then 32.4 million EC dollars loan from the Caribbean Development Bank, for post Tomas and for the April disaster this year.”

“Then there is a 43 million dollar project… for the Ministry of Health, and some of those works will be starting before the end of this year.”

“And then we have a new project; 20.9 million US from the World Bank. It’s a climate change project. We have been selected as one of the few countries around the world for a pilot project and for a disaster risk reduction program.”

Dr. Gonsalves also announced that road works to the tune of $2 million had been approved by him to begin this week.