Minister commends BRAGSA following recent summons by judge

The Roads, Buildings and General Services Authority (BRAGSA) has been praised by Minister of Transport and Works Montgomery Daniel.

The commendation came on Monday September 25, one week after iWitness News reported that High Court Justice Brian Cottle had ordered police officers to bring acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of BRAGSA, Natoya Thomas before him.

Justice Cottle said he had summoned Thomas only because he had been unsuccessfully asking BRAGSA, for two months, to replace a light bulb, change a broken lock and fix a part of the ceiling in the judge’s chambers that was damaged.

Speaking at the opening of “The Shops of Glen”, Minister Daniel who is also Deputy Prime Minister said that BRAGSA, on a daily basis, receives numerous calls to do repairs and perform other services.

“There is not a day when BRAGSA will not have at least 50 calls per day and that the demand for the work of BRAGSA is very high.

“I want to say to you, just last month, BRAGSA had to be repairing 89 schools in this country to ensure that all of these schools are ready and fit for the new school term.

“And while they were doing that, they had to be working with three million dollars to clean the whole of St Vincent and the Grenadines, the road cleaning program, and while they were doing that they continue to do repair on the roads and while they were doing that, they entered into new contracts with the national road rehabilitation project to do nine roads,” Daniel reported.

The Minister of Transport and Works, under whom responsibility for BRAGSA falls said the organization is considered the firefighting arm of the government and they carry out jobs too numerous to mention.

He said the number of requests on a daily basis to BRAGSA is challenging and there are limitations, but the Ministry is working to ensure that the management of BRAGSA is strengthened so that the organisation can respond to the number of calls they get, not only on a daily basis, but throughout the year.

“I recall it was not easy for BRAGSA when the La Soufriere volcano erupted in 2021. They had to man all the shelters. They had to ensure that what is required is done for the good of all the 20,000 persons who had to face difficulties at that time and still ensuring that the rest of St Vincent and the Grenadines was being serviced.

“And so I want to thank BRAGSA for the work they have been doing. I want to thank the Ministry of Works for the outstanding work,” Daniel said.