WNT officially commissioned

The Waitukubuli National Trail Project Management Unit in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the European Union officially commissioned the WaituKubuli National Trail (WNT) yesterday.

The ceremony was held in Pont Casse at the site which houses the Trail’s Research and Interpretation Facility and featured a number of EU representatives and ambassadors, including EU Ambassador to the Eastern Caribbean Valeriano Diaz, who was impressed with the pace with which the project had been undertaken and recognized the significance of the Trail to Dominica.

“Dominica is the most ideal country for the development of this aspect of the tourism product,” Diaz said, “as it is the most unspoilt of the Caribbean Islands with its lush forests, numerous peaks and overwhelming waterfalls. The Waitukubuli National Trail helps to differentiate and diversify the regional tourism product,.” he said.

He also thank the many communities that the Trail passes through on the 185 kilometeres of its expanse, for their cooperation and understanding during the development process and noted the positive impacts that the Trail will have on those communities.

Minister for Agriculture Matthew Walters was congratulatory in his remarks to those in attendance particularly to the staff of the Project Management Unit for the advanced stage of completion to which the stage has been brought.

Walters stated, “Let me extend gratitude to the Regional Council of Martinique for providing invaluable support throughout the life of this project. Mr Eddie Henry and staff of the PMU for their dedication and hard work in ensuring that the trail, and especially this facility, reached this stage of completion, I thank you.”

Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerritt had projected that the trail would have been commissioned by the time he would give the next Independence Day speech and in his absence from this ceremony, Member of Parliament for the Castle Bruce constituency Johnson Drigo urged Dominicans to take ownership of the Trail.

“For us Dominicans we must get maximize on the prospects the Trail will provide. Get involved as responsible communities. Let us police the trail and ensure that visitors adhere to National Park and other legal regulations. Let us desist from littering the Trail, vandalizing Trail infrastructure or engaging in any practices that will negatively affect the environment,” Drigo said.

Drigo also congratulated the Waitukubuli Ecological Foundation for the original conceptualization of the WNT.

The WNT was funded through the EU to the tune of some 5.9-million Euros and the implementation project will end in December of this year.