Home  Reynold Benjamin - the newly elected Political Leader of GULP
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Injecting economic life into Grenada’s most improvished parish |
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Thursday, 31 August 2006 |
Interview with Hon. Michael Denis Lett, Member of Parliament for the Constituency of St. David’s
One month into the hurricane season, are you satisfied that the parish is ready in the event of another disaster? I don’t think that we are ready at the moment.
Because of the size of the parish two (disaster preparedness) committees were established, one for the north and another for the south. I applauded NaDMA (National Disaster Management Authority) for this because one committee was not able to take care of the entire parish.
As you may know this is the largest constituency on the island and having just one committee to function here would have been very, very difficult so there is a committee responsible for the northern section and one responsible for the southern section.
Then we have to look at the shelters. Only three shelters have been identified for the parish and all three are located in the southern sector, that’s Westerhall Secondary School, Corinth Community Center and Perdmontemps, that’s St. Dominic’s RC School.
There is not a shelter for the northern part and this is even more worrying when you check on the terrain that one has to travel through from La Tante, which is the eastern part of the constituency to the closest shelter, which is Corinth.
The terrain is rough because you have a lot of valleys, rivers to cross and a lot of trees that can pose a danger in the event of heavy wind and things like that.
It is therefore very dangerous for people traveling this long distance to get to a shelter.
During Hurricane Emily the St. David’s RC School was used and that building has since been renovated by the police contingent from Bermuda. I think that remedial work could be done to the primary RC School and it could be used as a shelter. There is only one problem which has to be tackled.
During Ivan we noticed that water came into a building because the building had some decorative blocks and the water came through the decorative blocks. That is the only problem with the school but once you put up shutters possibly ply board you can get extension bolts and block off the decorative blocks, then people will be safe inside.
The building is very strong, a lot of work was done hurricane straps installed, new galvanize, new rafters and wrought iron work put in place. It is a big building and a strong one so once the remedial work is done to prevent water from getting in through the decorative blocks, that building could be used as a shelter for the northern section.
At the moment there are probably over 3-4 hundred children in that school, so we know we have a little space there we have toilet facilities so it’s a building that can be used.
Is your main concern the location of the shelters?
Definitely.
St. David’s has been described as an impoverished parish, how are we going to inject economic life into St. David’s what do we have to do?
As you are aware St. David’s is a sort of agriculture based parish. The people depend on agriculture for their living. A lot of our workers also travel to St. George’s, to the town center to get work and it is very difficult seeing that both Ivan and Emily have devastated the agricultural sector.
It is very difficult for a lot of our farmers to take care of their children, to get them to school and to find a means of livelihood for them. Although I wish to say the agricultural sector is bouncing back since after Ivan because farmers have done a lot of planting and the crops are ready now. The problem now is that the market is saturated and it’s very difficult to get sale for the crops.
What is needed to bring economic life into St. David’s? By and large it is very inactive. I mean there is not much happening for the people of St. David’s. You are the Parliamentary Representative what are your plans to bring economic life into this parish?
 Well I am looking at different areas. For instance in the tourism sector we can develop trails in St. David’s instead of sticking to the Sun, Sea and Sand type of tourism which means every time a tourist arrives he has to run to Grand Anse beach. We can develop trails in St. David’s so that tourists can come up here and as a result we would have people gaining employment as tour guides, we would have people who are involved in the arts and crafts sector getting sale for their products. Through tourism we would be able to generate a lot of employment.
Then we’re also talking about agro-processing. Dr. Winston Mitchell has established an agro-processing plant at La Sagesse, and before hurricane Ivan he was purchasing a lot crops that we produce- oranges, carambola, grapefruit, mangoes and making juices. However since after hurricane Ivan the production has dropped but as I said things are now bouncing back. We are getting oranges we are getting grapefruit we are getting carambola and some farmers are supplying that to the agro-processing plant. We are hoping with the thrust that is being placed on the revitalization of the agricultural sector that we will be able to produce more items that the agro-processing plant will be able to utilize and as a result farmers will get more money in their pockets.
We are also looking at things like a small museum in Natural Works at La Sagesse with the coming of the 2007 World Cup cricket. That was an idea I had brought forward to the St. David’s Development Committee for sort of Exposition 2007 St. David’s.
This means we will have a big stage around the La Sagesse area so that we can put on shows for the entire week of the cricket. We can have all of the big showscalypso, cultural shows, exhibitions. We can have booths set up with art and craft exhibits.
All in all it could be big event where lots of money will flow and residents would capitalize on the dollars that would be coming into the island for this world cup cricket, not only our farmers and housewives but everybody will feel happy at least for that week. St. David’s will always have good agricultural land, St. David’s will always have coastal areas for development.
Why is St. David’s still an impoverished parish?
Well if you check the overall development thrust of the Country it is moving up and down the east coast. It has started at Grand Anse and is coming up. It has reached as far as Westerhall.
Land is very difficult to get between the Grand Anse and the Westerhall area so a lot of people are rushing toward St. David’s. They are gravitating now towards the St. David’s areas to purchase land and we are hoping that some of those lands would be used for development.
There is an area in La Sagesse with approximately 200 acres which was purchased lately and development plans are before the planning division. It is to be used for the establishment of housing, hotels, supermarkets. I think that will be the starting point in St. David’s because a lot of things will gravitate around that
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