Madam Speaker, we live in a geographic location that grants us certain privileges which others must travel or relocate to experience.  Our 60 islands and cays, to which we have ample access, are all surrounded by beautiful white sand.  I also recognise that because sand is so readily available, persons may not just use it for their enjoyment, but also for other purposes and that is what I need to urgently address in this sitting. 

Madam Speaker, the Elmore Stoutt High School Redevelopment Project continues to progress at an accelerated pace and all hands are on deck to bring this project to completion.

Madam Speaker, the preliminary results of the 2022 CXC Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) Examinations were released on Monday, 5^th September, 2022. As is customary, the students of the Territory of the Virgin Islands participated in these examinations.

His Excellency, the Governor Mr. John J. Rankin, CMG, chaired the Meeting held on 5 th October, 2022, which was held at the Financial Services Commission’s Resource Centre, Jones Building.

Madam Speaker, I wish to provide a brief report to this Honourable House on the Government's continuing efforts to increase airlift to the Virgin Islands so that we can make traveling easier and more affordable for all our residents and visitors, which is important to our tourism industry and our economy.

Madam Speaker, as we approach the start of the 2022-2023 cruise season and strive to enhance our service standard, the Taxi and Livery Commission, in conjunction with the Ministry of Communication and Works, will be undertaking a few initiatives, including the establishment of a Public Transportation Dispatching Unit under the Taxi and Livery Commission, and a review of the Taxi Tariff.

Madam Speaker, the Ministry of Communications and Works commenced in earnest the works at the Market Square in 2021, and we are anticipating the completion of this project will be in the 1st Quarter of 2023.

Madam Speaker, the British Virgin Islands Ports Authority, by board resolution in November of 2019, decided to register a company in Miami, Florida.
The purpose of that company, named the BVI Ports Authority (BVIPA) LLC, was to enable the BVI Ports Authority to rent office space in the Miami area to provide an outreach location for its cruise business. In addition, it was decided that the office space could also host the BVI Tourist Board and the BVI Shipping Registry.

The BVI Electricity Corporation (BVIEC) continues to make significant strides as it relates to the Territory’s clean energy transition to utilizing more renewable energy.

In January 2021, BVIEC was successful in obtaining a grant from the Canadian Support to the Energy Sector in the Caribbean (CSES-S) Fund, being administered by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) for technical assistance in supporting BVIEC with project preparation of a Climate Resilient Energy Infrastructure Project in the Paraquita Bay area, aimed at improving the resilience of the Territory’s national transmission grid infrastructure by placing the sole portion of BVIEC’s transmission network underground, and adding a Renewable Energy Generation and Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) facilities.

As most of us should be aware, the Waste Water Treatment Plant at Burt Point suffered substantial damage during the passage of Hurricane Irma in 2017 and was eventually inoperable at a later point thereafter.