New Public Works Minister spends over EC $2M in first two weeks

Recently appointed Minister of Public Works and Infrastructural Development, Rayburn Blackmore

The EC $2.3 million project, which Blackmoore officially signed off on Monday had been in the planning stages for several years and aims to repair approximately 240m of road and 290m of sea wall along Dominica’s Southern Fond St. Jean constituency. 

The details of the project state that the roadway would be widened to 6.5m, have full drainage on both sides and a 1.5m wide sidewalk would be poured. Additionally the seawall would be raised to an average height of 4m.

Blackmoore said that the road construction is a necessity to commerce in Fond St. Jean, which is largely based on fishing. He also said that he would be working closely with the local contractor, ACE Engineering, to “ensure that the contract itself is executed in the quickest and most effective manner”.

Anthony Leblanc, Director of ACE Engineering, said that his company understood the responsibility of the project and would do everything in its power to deliver the “good quality work in good time” that it promised when it won the bid.

With a deadline of twenty-six weeks to complete the project, Ministry of Public Works officials said that their department would be closely monitoring the work and providing the technical support to ensure that the job is completed on time.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, who on November 19 removed previous Public Works Minister Ambrose George from office over corruption charges, said he was “elated that this timely project can now get off the ground” and to see Blackmoore ambitiously taking to his new portfolio. ~~Adz:Right~~