Nevis, West Indies. ?A Non-Tourist-Trap? Blog About Nevis.

CFO – William Powdar

Charlestown, Nevis
September 27, 2012

Investors for a proposed multimillion dollar fuel storage facility at Prembroke Estate on Nevis said they have managed to attract worldwide interest in the planned project.  Member of the Board of Directors of Canadian Global Investment Mr. Thomas Williams made the comment when he and other company representatives made a field visit to the site of the tank storage facility on September 25th, 2012.

On the visit members of the Canadian based investment group were accompanied by persons drawn from a number of relevant agencies in the Nevis Island Administration among them Minister responsible for Physical Planning, Natural Resources and the Environment Hon. Carlisle Powell.

“This one [project] on Nevis has now received worldwide support and here are several players now waiting to come and get involved to the extent that the original estimate of 5milion barrel storage has now escalated to 12million barrels of storage and this is why at this stage we are seeking to acquire additional lands beyond what we have already secured in this process to date,” he said.

Meantime, the company’s Chief Executive Officer Mr. Andre Reid described the venture as a mega project which would bring benefits to Nevis.

“The different products we are going to be storing in this facility it’s going to create an environment that’s going to create jobs. One thing we are going to do is have an LNG tank which AT&V [Huston based contractors] have expressed that it is a necessity for this area, since we maybe want to retrofit the generating systems. If we lower the cost of electricity we can then in turn create an environment that’s going to bring businesses to the area.

“I mean that’s up to the local government to discuss what business they will accept or not accept but we know there is going to be employment opportunities that are going to be tenfold,” he said.

Mr. Reid further explained that training opportunities would soon be made available for members of the public who wished to prepare for available jobs in the sector.

“The first thing we are going to do within the next 30 to 45 days is set up some kind of training facility in the town. Then we are going to see if we can get some people to actually come down, male female anybody who wants to learn how to do different jobs that are going to be necessary for this facility and that’s why we are going to start from that point and move forward for the whole region,” he said.

The Chief Executive Officer stated that although American Tank and Vessel (AT&V) a company based in Huston would be contractors for the project they would utilise all local services and manpower available but the Nevis project would be the biggest such facility they would construct.

“They have done 2,500 facilities all over the world and they are working on one now in South Africa.

“Here is being in the proximity and Huston puts them in a better frame for bringing over the necessary equipment that we can’t get here but we are going to use everybody local to start with,” he said.

Regarding the planned projects impact on the island’s tourism industry, Mr. Reid said that type of business also had a tourism component. He noted that the island had already been mentioned in a magazine called Tank Terminal.

“It states in there that this is also for tourism purposes because people come here to see this and also come here to do business with it they have to stay here and have to spend money to be here,” he said.

Chief Financial Officer of the Investment Group Mr. William “Bill” Powdar gave a brief description of the planned facility’s lay out.

“Tanks will be placed in a staggered formation going towards the hill… each tank wiill have its own fire repellent station…The port is not necessarily a port it’s something called SBM Station. It’s a single board mooring station that’s about a mile out in the sea where there is deeper waters to accommodate this big VLCC.

“The VLCC is a very large vessel for fuel. All the liquid fuel will be pumped in by submarine pipes, one of them is about 24 inches in diameter and there will be more than one pipe for different kinds of products that’s coming into the facility. So that’s in a nutshell what we are proposing to get done here,” he said.

Also present was Engineer Mr. Greg Williams who will form part of the Engineering team on the project. He said he had prior experience on similar facilities in Nova Scotia and Alaska and assured that the tanks expected to be built on Nevis would be done in line with the international requirements for standard tank terminal facilities.

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Low Income Government Housing

Photo By Erasmus Williams

Basseterre, St. Kitts – Nevis
September 20, 2012 (CUOPM)

Thousands of persons have owned their own homes, hundreds of students have received scholarships and loans and the health and police security have been enhanced as a result of the savings of the insured persons.

Delivering the welcome remarks during Tuesday’s official opening of the E. St. John Payne Annex, Director of the St. Kitts and Nevis Social Security Board, Mrs. Sephlin Lawrence, lauded the visionaries in the Labour Party Administrations of Premiers  the Right Excellent Sir Robert L. Bradshaw and The Right Excellent Sir C.A. Paul Southwell for blazing the challenging trails to provide  social security to the people of the twin-island Federation to alleviate poverty and bring dignity to the old age persons.

“We laud them for their vision as our economy and our people are much better off for not only the benefits available, but also for the socio-economic development that we can all enjoy because of the magnitude of savings realized through social security from our contributors,” said Mrs. Lawrence said.

“Domestic financial institutions are able to augment their resources for their clients, thousands of persons own homes because of mortgage loans and  residential construction undertaken directly and indirectly by SS investments. Furthermore, hundreds of students have completed their secondary and tertiary education from scholarships and loans.  Our health and police security services have been enhanced as a result of donations of useful items from the savings of insured persons,” said Mrs. Lawrence, the first female director.

She said that the insightful vision of the Rt. Excellent Sir Robert Bradshaw our first National Hero, the implementation skills of St. John Payne, the trail-blazing first Minister, and the acute administrative oversight of Fitzroy Bryant, the first Chairman have all been built upon by successive generations of Social Security stalwarts from both major political parties.

“Worthy of acknowledgement even at this time, is the contribution of my predecessor in the office of Executive Director, Mr. Robert Manning, a tower of strength who served our institution with a high level of distinction, worthy of emulation,” said Mrs. Lawrence.

She said there are countless others including past Board Members, retired staff members and the legal draftsmen among others,  who were involved in a myriad of ways to  construct the final tapestry of Social Security as we know it today.

“To all those stalwarts, we owe a great debt of gratitude. It is also their services which have contributed to this event today,” she said.

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Nevis Is Not Broke

Charlestown Nevis
September 19, 2012

Nevis Premier, the Hon. Joseph Parry announced Wednesday morning during his address at the 29th Independence Anniversary Ceremony that “the island of Nevis is not broke, in spite of what one might hear or what some may wish.”

Premier Parry, who also holds the Ministry of Finance portfolio, received a rousing applause from the crowd that had gathered at the Elquemedo Willett Park in Stoney Grove, for the ceremony.

The Premier told the attentive audience that he did not ask any person to talk on his behalf at the recently held Financial Consultation in St. Kitts to which his Financial Secretary, Mr. Laurie Laurence, spoke on the challenging economic times that the island of Nevis has been facing, information that has elicited misinformation from certain persons to the effect that Nevis is “bankrupt”.

The Hon. Joseph Parry said that the global economy has many countries facing difficult financial periods and some countries here in the region have been unable to pay their civil servants or pay them late, but according to the Premier, “Nevis has been able to pay government workers and pay them on time”.

He said that Nevis is obligated to be part of a serious austerity program, not only to survive this recession, the worst since 1929, but to place the island’s economy in a position to absorb and survive shocks in the future.

“This is a work in progress,” stated Premier Parry. “It will take time, but the government is making steady progress.”

According to the Ministry of Finance, for this year up to August, Nevis Recurrent Revenue stood at $79,072,272.59 and Recurrent Expenditure at $83,247,652.77 creating a deficit of $4,175,380.18.

He noted that the government meets payments on the domestic debt. He added: “When the restructuring is complete we would be in a position to cover salaries the domestic debt and other re-current obligations more easily.”

The question the Premier asked was, “how do we continue to drive and expand the economy and how do we get funds for capital expansion”?

He informed participants that no longer can Nevis rely on grants and loans because no financial institutions will extend loans after the several rounds of haircuts and the insisting by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that Nevis balance their budget, take on capital funded projects and do it within three years.

According to Premier Parry, two options have been brought up to help ease the financial challenges in Nevis but the Premier has said a firm “NO” to both. The first has been to trim the government service and the second is to re-introduce Personal Income Tax.

“The consequence of trimming the civil service will be that people would not be able to pay rent, pay their mortgage, feed their children, meet certain obligations and the economy will fall into a downward spiral,” observed Hon. Parry.

“For me to re-introduce Personal Income Tax would be cruel and short sighted in these challenging times as the people of Nevis would have less to meet their needs and a fall-off in demand will also cause the economy to shrink.”

He said that his Nevis Reformation Party-led Administration has pursued the path of growth through private sector development, both local and foreign.

The Premier identified local investors, Mr. Deon Daniel, Mr. Greg Hardtman, the Four Seasons Resort Estates and Mr. Analdo Chiverton, who between them all have created over 200 jobs in the last six months. He also mention Brown Hill Communications and congratulated them on behalf of the Administration for creating 70 jobs by the end of October.

As part of the growth effort, an Oil Storage Plant is to be located in the Pembroke area. “For those with raised eyebrows, be informed that St. Lucia, St. Eustatius and St. Croix all have a similar facility,”the Premier said.

Health tourism will receive a boost in Nevis with the addition of a Cosmetology Centre, a Urology Centre and a Renal Centre with a Dialysis Unit.

“The creation of jobs and much investment in the economy through the private sector, means more economic growth and tangible revenue for the island of Nevis,” Premier Parry proudly stated.

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