Former St. Kitts – Nevis Sugar Lands Serving The Nation

Basseterre, Saint Kitts – Nevis
April 09, 2008 (CUOPM)

St. Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas says the former sugar lands are being used for the social development and empowerment of nationals.

Speaking at a ceremony to allocate 80 acres of land to 44 farmers, Dr. Douglas said land has been allocated for agriculture, construction of houses for local homeowners, churches, schools, community centres and new businesses thus providing for entrepreneurship and job opportunities in the development of the national economy.

“Social development means that we are providing the land for housing. You now have the opportunity to own your homes on your plot of land and not paying rent as you did to the planter of the old days. The house lots are now yours, distributed through the National Housing Corporation (NHC) or through the Special Land Initiative of the Ministry of Sustainable Development,” said Dr. Douglas.

He said the land is also being used in the social development and empowerment of the people by providing land for the building of churches.

“We have a lot of churches in St. Kitts and Nevis and some of them still do not have land,” said Prime Minister Douglas, who pointed out that his St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Government since taking office has been distributing land to several church denominations “so that our people can as a congregation continue to worship God and to give their praises to God.”

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St. Kitts – Nevis Allocates 44 Acres Of Land To Farmers

Basseterre, Saint Kitts – Nevis
April 9, 2008 (CUOPM)

Two days after a Cabinet announcement that some 100 acres of land was allocated to local farmers in Estridge, Mansion, Phillips’ and Old Road, the St. Paul’s Community Center was the venue for re-settling 44 farmers on 80 acres of land in the Fahie’s Agricultural Belt, bringing to 240 acres the amount of land made available for farming in an area called “the Bread Basket of St. Kitts.”

“It is an exercise that will continue the empowerment of the ordinary man and woman in St. Kitts and Nevis and in particular our small farmers,” Prime Minister and Parliamentary Representative, Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas said at the ceremony at which the farmers signed contracts for the lease of the land they will cultivate under the “Small Holdings Act. “

“This empowers you to have the right to plots of land and give that right to develop that land by farming and making a living from that land and contributing to the provision of food not only for your families, but your neighbours and visitors to St. Kitts ad Nevis,” said Dr. Douglas, who disclosed that some 1,000 acres of land has been earmarked for agriculture in the area stretching from Newton Ground to Bellevue.

The leased land allocated to the farmers will be given rent-free for the first two years and would be extended for several years once the land is continued to be used for farming.

Prime Minister Douglas told the farmers that they have a very important role to play in the development of St. Kitts and Nevis as agriculture is critical to play in the continued development of the twin-island Federation.

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Nevis Disaster Management Office Holds Meeting

Charlestown Nevis
April 9, 2008

A workshop designed to equip participants with the tools necessary to complete a Business Continuity Plan and improve the resilience of the economy to the impact of disasters took place last Thursday April 3rd, 2008 at the Nevis Disaster Management office at Long Point, Nevis.
 
The workshop was hosted by the Nevis Disaster Management office and sponsored by the Caribbean Open Trade Support (COTS) Program funded by United States Agency for International development (USAID) Barbados based office. The one day training programme was facilitated by Mr. Frank Michael who said that the workshop came under the risk component of the COTS program.
 
“Over the last four years COTS have been working with governments, the private sector, non-government and community based organizations to do four things.  First to enhance private sector growth, second to improve the business and investment climate, third to increase resilience to disasters and four to protect the biodiversity of the sub-region.
 
“The round of workshops has taken place throughout the OECS [Organization of Eastern Caribbean States] with the exception of Dominica.  Nevis will be the last of the round of workshops, and I can assure you that you will perhaps be in a better position because everything that could have gone wrong before, we would have looked at and hoped to improve by the time we got to the last workshop, so in looking at what we are hope to achieve,” he said.

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St. Kitts – Nevis Tourism Strategy Garners Results

Basseterre, St. Kitts – Nevis
April 09, 2008 (SKNIS)

The forecast by the Caribbean World Travel and Tourism Council that St. Kitts and Nevis will register the second highest tourism growth in the region of 5.6 percent, has been welcomed by local officials who stress that efforts must continue to consolidate the gains.

This week, Unoma Allen, Corporate Communications Manager of the St. Kitts Tourism Authority, appeared on SKNIS’ radio magazine programme, Perspectives and noted that the expansion of services with American Airlines and the newly formed relationship with Delta Airlines operating from Atlanta has yielded satisfactory results.

“This sort of information [comes] from the efforts that have been taking place over prior years and what we are doing now,” she stated. “Our destination is now open to many more people and as you’ve heard time and time again, Atlanta is the largest international airline hub in the world.”

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Nevis Sanitation Workers Honored On World Health Day

Charlestown, Nevis
April, 8, 2008

Several Health Workers on Nevis were honored for their contribution to health services during an Award Ceremony on World Health Day Monday, April 7, 2008 at the Nevis Red Cross Center. Minister of Health in the Nevis Island Administration (NIA) Hon. Hensley Daniel said the event was the Ministry’s way of showing appreciation for the important contribution of the workers and to raise their profile.
 
Minister Daniel said the private sector has a role to play to honor sanitation workers and help to manage garbage generated by them. He also added the Ministry expected the private and public sector cooperation.

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