$60-million approved for home repairs after Maria says PM Skerrit

The Prime Minister (left) spoke on Kairi’s Heng Program on Tuesday evening

Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has said over EC$60 million in cash from local resources have been approved for housing repairs for citizens following Hurricane Maria which devastated the island last September.

He was speaking on Kairi FM’s Next Level Programme on Tuesday night.

“So far we have approved over EC$60 million in cash to citizens of Dominica…,” he said. “That is just to fix homes and that is outside of the procurement of building materials that we procured in a large quantity and also procuring from local establishments.”

He continued, “We have procured significant sums from local establishments to help with reroofing.”

He stated that the money, “is not World Bank money, it’s not nobody else’s money but our local resources.”

He said his government is committed to providing more, “because it’s not everybody we have touched so far.”

Skerrit stated that a number of homes will be constructed on the east coast.

He said following the passage of Hurricane Maria the government has entered into arrangements with the developers constructing homes in Bellevue Chopin to build apartments in many communities in Dominica.

“We are talking about contracts that have been signed, designs that have been approved and lands that have been already cleared and are in the process of being cleared,” he noted.

Skerrit pointed out that the government has signed contracts or agreements with the developer to build 66 apartment units in Grand Fond, and that would cover Riviere Cyrique and Morne Jaune.

He stated that contracts have been signed for housing in other parts of the east coast.

“In La Plaine 66 apartment units, in Delices 66 apartment units and in Grand Fond we are looking at government lands and we are acquiring another portion of land belonging to Mr. Lockhart and we are finalizing the arrangement with him…,” he explained. “In San Sauveur we are building 66 apartment units there.”

Meantime, Skerrit said his government has contributed financial resources and material resources to all 21 constituencies in Dominica.

“Twenty-one constituencies in Dominica have received financial resources from the government to assist residents with their homes,” he noted. “It’s a huge cost to the government.”

He made it “very clear” that it is not the responsibility of the government to assist citizens

“The government is not obligated to help anyone fix their homes and the record will show after major disasters before this government came to office this wasn’t the case,” Skerrit remarked.

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27 Comments

  1. Music Producer
    May 24, 2018

    Skerrit is a distraction to what’s to happen in this country, and it aint gonna be pretty. The Chinese are colonizing the Caribbean real fast and allu wasting time with this J@ck @ss PM. research and stay informed instead of being distracted by this fool. RS

    https://www.pri.org/stories/2011-04-22/why-china-spending-billions-caribbean

  2. joe grind
    May 24, 2018

    would be nice if our highly educated and honorary doctorate holder utilized a wider vocabulary besides the repetitive procured word. a thesaurus should be added to the list of books to buy you imbecile

  3. May 23, 2018

    Look carefully at these guys in the studio what do you see? 3 DUMB mice; hear how they talk; hear how they talk! They talk about building resilient houses and “is not World Bank money, it’s not nobody else’s money but our local resources”. Thanks to Maria the Death, Blind and Dumb will rebuild Dominica including our International Airport.

  4. May 23, 2018

    And we believe you :-D :-D

  5. Karl Orndem
    May 23, 2018

    how much approved for hurricane shelters. Those people all you want to build shelter for will not have their house before hurricane season finish. Also it dawned on me that we need proper sea access island wide. We need jetty’s so if this ever happens again boats bringing in supplies or moving people can land safely. whether they be fixed jettys or floating. the community councils need to operate from sea access in case air is taking too much time to come or roads are not accessible.

  6. dissident
    May 23, 2018

    Where your balls…… I want to hear you talk of house repairs in Marigot and Salisbury

  7. Jonathan Y St Jean
    May 23, 2018

    Skerritt, can we get a breakdown of who got the assistance by color? Only then can we see that you are the PM of all the people. This will also dispel the word going around that red get the vast majority of the relief assistance. Don’t you think we have a right to this type of information? I dare you to provide it.

  8. Lioness on the rise
    May 23, 2018

    Keep in mind Puerto Rico belongs to the USA. Skerrit is doing the best he can. We should stop looking for the negative in everything.

    • May 23, 2018

      His best is not good enough :-D

    • viewsexpressed
      May 25, 2018

      It has never been good enough. The man is a big immature political clown with surrogates having operating like a puppet on a string. This so called M, knows nothing of development and he is killing our poor country his government has corruu0t more into the abyss f poverty and suffering. Skerrit and his political illiterate clowns must go.

  9. meka
    May 23, 2018

    It is not the responsibility of the Government to assist its citizens..and yet there you are!! Government has a duty to assist its ciizens in many other ways like providing incentives and making it easier for them. Then what is your motive

  10. More Fire!
    May 23, 2018

    “is not World Bank money, it’s not nobody else’s money but our local resources.” Are you kidding me?
    It drop from the sky? I would luv to know where the heck you get the money from. I’m just saying….

    • May 24, 2018

      More Fire! May 23, 2018

      It is either you have no understanding or you cannot read. You quoted the line where the Prime Minister said that the “Money came from local resources”, what is so hard about that for you to understand?

      Or are you one of those minds which are blinded by darkness and negativity and cannot see the light and the positive side of Life?

  11. jihan
    May 23, 2018

    Pure hogwash so every citizen in Dominica will get a home built by you Skerrit.this country has gone down the drain,you need to go.How can people depend on government for everything,so no one works anymore?

    • May 24, 2018

      Exactly. These days, everybody lives from the red clinic. Al the naggers and whiners. And there are so many. It’s disgusting.

  12. My Little Take
    May 23, 2018

    “The government is not obligated to help anyone fix their homes and the record will show after major disasters before this government came to office this wasn’t the case,” Skerrit remarked.

    Once again Skerrit has me lost in his attempt to score political points. Skerrit if you are not under any obligation to help fix people’s homes then why fix them? U destroyed the fabric of this country with your politics. You are right that the record will show that previous governments did not fix homes for people because the people were armed and well able to help themselves. However, you came and first thing you did was to disarm and made the people disable. It’s like amputating their legs when legs were healthy and replaced those legs with crutches. You met a people that were selling bananas, copra, citrus along with other things and you, destroyed every one of them so the people could depend on you and as a result vote for you. Now they have no savings, no work who U want to fix their…

    • May 24, 2018

      “Skerrit if you are not under any obligation to help fix people’s homes then why fix them?”
      @My Little Take May 23, 2018

      He does so because he cares about the people, not only those who support him and his government; but if you think that is the case so be it.

      However, do not forget that there is a Primary Controller, who makes the final decision. Have you ever wondered why He doesn’t accept your call? Maybe you and your fellow counterparts should take some time to consider that.

      • viewsexpresed
        May 25, 2018

        Cares about the People. My big foot. This man this clown, rather than create jobs for the poor people, their families he creates a corrupt Red Bobol Clinic where he dishes out cash to buy loyalty because he knows and Elizabeth and your other blind supporters knows that Skerrit is limited and ignorant in Social/economic development, so he insults and disrespects our vulnerable people and you clowns shout “We love our PM” My foot. Gangster politics
        You are in denial, ignorant of the real happenings in this our bleak country and destroyed by a very corrupt labour government. They have abused and misused our finds and we are in deep trouble. Skerrit and his dirty corrupt political clowns like you must go and make way for decent professionals to plot Dominica’s recovery and sustainable development.
        The more these blind acolytes of Skerrit come on social media to talk on behalf of this clown PM, they more they have him and his corrupt Labour government expose their ******in public…

  13. Neville
    May 23, 2018

    Local resources, Skerrit keeps repeating. What local resources? Tax payers money, other money from the treasury, passport money? What. Or have you found a gold mine somewhere in Dominica? The citizens of Dominica have a right to know.

  14. Who the cap fits
    May 23, 2018

    I don’t listen to Skerrit because of this verse in John 8; 44 B “When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
    I must say that I am tired of the same old lies, same old hypocrisies, same old deception and same old division of Skerrit. We are exactly 8 more days before the 2018 hurricane season and since Skerrit failed to unite us after what we went through during Maria, he should have tried to unite us days before another hurricane season. Why go on kairie at this time to put out such important information, if he believes there is truth to them? Is kairie now the state radio and replaced DBS that belongs to the state? What hell next level program? Where is the next level Mr. Skerrit? These nonsense getting me real upset because with the state of the country we should try to unite our badly divided country and resume our politics at the end of the hurricane season, if we are not further destroyed man. This is foolishness and unwise

  15. Ibo France
    May 23, 2018

    A caring government puts social programs in place to assist the least among us. Poverty, infirmity, disability will always affect society. It’s the government’s solemn duty to put things in place to alleviate the suffering of these victims. Not everybody should stretch their arms out for hand-outs from the government. Government has a sacred duty to create the enabling economic environment for job opportunities to flourish so that most people who want to work can have a job to help themselves instead of becoming totally dependent of the State’s welfare services. The gross mismanagement of the country’s resources have had catastrophic economic consequences for Dominica. Many people are out of work, have no savings and are unable to cook a nutritious meal. How does one expect these same people to have the wherewithal to do costly repairs to their dwelling places? Mr. Skerrit, if your words can’t improve the silence, say nothing.

    • Man bites dogs
      May 23, 2018

      Ibo, mama man my prime minister Skerrit dosenot performed mericle if that’s what you workers idiotic supporters and Linton wants go see U.S. President Trump and you will be told where to go.

      • Ibo France
        May 23, 2018

        Before you spend time to curse people, consult a dictionary and learn to spell. Stop embarrassing yourself. I’m convinced that you are demonically depraved, you need exorcism.

        dosenot should be does not
        mericle should be miracle

      • viewsexpressed
        May 25, 2018

        You want vocabulary by an illiterate man who is limited to decency, vocabulary, decency in politics etc..? Look, the intellectual language of this man is “Go to Hell…Go to hell, it is none of your Dan Business”. That is where this clown is now. he goes no further

    • May 24, 2018

      Many people are out of work, have no savings and are unable to cook a nutritious meal. How does one expect these same people to have the wherewithal to do costly repairs to their dwelling places?

      @Ibo France, for the first time, I almost commended you for the first part of your thought, until I read that quote above.

      A Government who employs every citizen of the Nation would have no revenue coming into the Treasury, because they are paying out the salaries, regardless of tax deductions

      Your quote is what the younger people hear, like a broken record, no wonder they grow up into idle adults, without a mind of their own, waiting for the Government to find them a job, so to get rich overnight, how can this be?

      Those who are vying to be rulers of the Nation should start by establishing a business of employment, which is the way to show the people they can be depended upon, for the economic growth of the country–what are they doing?

  16. LifeandDeath
    May 23, 2018

    Yes Yes Yes…Skerrit gov’t alone that ever done anything to “assist” Dominicans…LMAO!!..I dead…What is wrong with Skewo?..

    Plus note all the Apartment Buildings are air marked for Rural Communities who have lost their daily bread (primarily farming) under Skerrit and also, they are the seats that are anticipated to be lost to the UWP. After such a dismal performance by the current DLP, it’s no surprise so many needs assistance.

  17. Fran
    May 23, 2018

    I think that a great way to help the citizens. Not sure why it took so long but the supplies it seems are what’s needed most on the island.

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