Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Works, Hudson Need, signed the contracts on behalf of the government of St.Vincent and the Grenadines for (1) the construction of the national agricultural and feeder roads project and (2) the feasibility studies and preliminary designs for the rehabilitation of the north Windward Coast Road project. Osama M. Refaei signed on behalf of Kuwait Dynamics Limited as contractors.

The consultancy for the feasibility project will be done by NARCO DIWI (NARCO a Kuwaiti firm and DIWI a British Caribbean firm in a joint venture arrangement as consultants on the project). The firm was represented by Nabeel Abdul Raheem.

Minister of Transport and Works the Hon Senator Julian Francis in his remarks said both projects were Kuwait funded. He said the Kuwait Fund loaned this country four million dinars which amounts to approximately 32 million Eastern Caribbean dollars, for the development of feeder roads and secondary roads in this country.

According to Minister Francis, the original loan was signed on the 6th of October 2016 and by 28th of April 2017 this country had entered into a contract with NARCO DIWI.

He said the signing of the contracts indicate the beginning of the projects. The Consultants job, he explained is to continue construction supervision. Funds are being paid directly from the source to the contractors and funds utilised locally will be for operation of PIMU (project implementation management unit) and some other local expenses

The Project will cover 10 roads: Belair Village Road, Brighton Salt Pond Road, Calder main road, Carriere Village road, Colonaire Estate road, Enhams road, Greggs/Lowmans road, Montreal Gardens road, Ottley Hall/Fort Charlotte road and Sayers Village road. A total amount of 14km of roads Minister Francis said when the initial tenders were submitted, the tenders were beyond the amount of the financing and it was then the job of the PIMU to sit with successful bidders and negotiate a downward figure. “They have come in with a figure that is within our budget 32 million dollars EC value that we got from Kuwait to cover not just construction but expenses of PIMU consultants fee all that is included in the 32 million dollars,” noting that the roads were chosen in order of priority.

There is a sister project to this which is funded by the Opec Fund for International Development (OFID). The 18 million 520 US million dollars project will cover a larger amount of roads (subject to change depending on circumstances).

These roads are: Eire Hill road, Fair Hall main road, Richland Park road, Gomea main road, Lauders - Chapmans main road, Benjamin Bristol Road, Copeland Mountain road, Farm Mcmillan road, Maloney Mountain road, Mongoyia/ Bohima road, Very vine Mountain road, Palmyra/ Antoine Mountain road, Lammie Mountain road, old Sandy BayrRoad The project is expected to be completed in 32 months The contracts were signed at a ceremony held at Cabinet Room.