Nevis News

Nevis news – local Nevis news, and regional Caribbean news.

Is The Cricket World Cup Bonanza A Reality?

March 20, 2007
By Lloyd Noel

Now that the ICC CWC2007 has in fact been opened and is ongoing as planned; and the Opening Ceremony on Sunday 11th March in Jamaica, could really be classified as the best ever, from the point of view of show-casing the history and culture of the Caribbean as a whole; and at the same time bringing together parts of the history and traditions of the other competing countries from around the world, it is, perhaps, the appropriate time to pose the above question.

And I say so, because with five weeks still to go before the final in Barbados on April 28, there is still ample time for the Local Organising Committees (LOCs), to more forcefully put forward another case to the ICC and WICB, to make some amends to the entry fees and prices of food and drinks at matches.

And just as significantly is the fact that it is not simply wild speculation on anyone’s part to say that the estimates and calculations about the World Cup bonanza were hopelessly over-exaggerated.

To begin with, it is already very clear that the estimated one hundred thousand visitors, expected in the region for the World Cup will not be realised.

And that realisation comes from the facts that, for the first round matches in which all sixteen teams are participating, the turn outs of the crowds at St Kitts – Nevis and St Lucia especially, have been very disappointing.

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Watch World Cup Cricket 2007 Live

Stumbled across this site the other day.  http://pklivecricket.blogspot.com  The guy here has a link to software that you can install to watch the Cricket in Saint Kitts – Nevis for free….along with the other venues across the Caribbean.  The software …

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Nevis Citizens Able To Buy Cheaper Land

Charlestown, Nevis (March 16, 2007)
Nevisians will now be afforded government lands at cheaper rates. The disclosure was made at a sitting of the Nevis Island Assembly on Thursday March 15, 2007 by Housing and Lands Minister on Nevis the Hon. Robelto Hector.

” I am happy to report in this House and to the nation, that the land sale policy as approved by the Board of Directors of the Nevis Land and Housing Corporation is that where you are a first time buyer in Nugent’s Village, we would offer you land at EC$3.50 per square foot. If you are a land owner taking a second bite at the cherry, we are still able to accommodate you but we are not using the first come first serve attitude. You can purchase land at EC$4.25 per square foot, which is a bit higher than the man who is a first time owner,” he said.

According to the Minister, land was also being offered at Nugent’s Heights to first time buyers at EC$6.00 per square foot and existing land owners at EC$6.50. Regarding the commercial lots, once a purchaser was an established business owner, land prices would be set at EC$8.00 per square foot but would be offered to young upcoming entrepreneurs for EC$7.00.

Notwithstanding, Mr. Hector spoke to a number of procedures put in place to guard against possible fraudulent purchases.”We [Corporation] have realized that we would have problems and so we have created a certificate where an oath would be taken by first time landowners in which you [purchaser] are going to indicate to us at the Corporation that you are a first time landowner.  We would then do a search in the Registry to make sure that this is so.  This search of course will take time and as such it would involve a small fee.

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Nevis Civil Servants To Get Financing For Affordable Housing

CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (March 15, 2007)
Civil servants and non-established workers in the Nevis Island Administration (NIA), will now have access to affordable housing through an EC $10 million loan from the St. Kitts and Nevis Social Security Board following an amendment to the Nevis Island Government Loan (Guarantee) Ordinance 2002.

The Nevis Island Administration Loan (Guarantee) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2007 which was passed in the Nevis Island Assembly in Charlestown on Thursday March 15, 2007 will give the  NIA the authority to guarantee loans from any statutory body, bank and other financial institutions for the benefit of its employees.

The Bill was presented in the name of Minister of Housing and Lands the Hon. Robelto Hector, who said that the new Administration had been approached by the Social Security to make the relevant amendments.

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Wolrd Cup Cricket In Saint Kitts – An Outsiders View

By Neil Manthorp

‘Smokey’ the taxi driver has very quickly become our surrogate big brother. We lean on his every word, though most of them are unintelligible to us. He knows where everything is, naturally, and the likelihood is that will, too, after a week on this tiny but perfectly formed island community.
 
He mockingly berates one of us for referring to the capital as ‘Bass-e-terre’ instead of ‘Bass-terre’. The ‘e’ is silent. “Dis no Frech island, dat pleeass (‘Bass’e’terre’) be in Guadalope,” says Smokey.
 
Before arrival we had been led to believe that St.Kitts was little more than a large rock with two hotels, a couple of restaurants, a port and church or two. How wrong that impression was.
 
A population of 36,000 certainly makes it sound small, especially when the illegal hotel operating next door to my home in Cape Town has that many guests over for Sunday lunch, but that number discounts the tourists inhabiting the enormous ocean liners which cruise into the harbour on a regular basis.
 
As we flew into the larger and more established Antigua en-route to St.Kitts there were four enormous ships docked in the harbour although St.Kitts could never manage those logistics at this stage of it’s tourist economy life.

The sugar cane industry on which St.Kitts and the neighbouring Nevis islands depended for centuries was finally shut down after years of loss-making forcing the islanders to confront the stark reality that their visitors were now also their bread and butter.

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