Infrastructure Minister Stephenson King during Monday’s pre-cabinet press briefing announced that the government is meeting with potential investors with a view to developing the Cul De Sac area. This comes as more commercial activity is moving downward into the Cul De Sac valley.
Minister King, however, notes that discussions are still in their preliminary stages: “For years we have spoken about Cul De Sac. In recent times, there is some very interesting interest expressed in developing Cul de Sac and I’m hoping in the coming weeks through conversations that I intend to have with a few investors, most likely we will see some sort of investment made in that area. But that is really at the embryo stage at this time,” the Minister disclosed.
Minister King added that the government is working on enhancing its operations at Port Castries and other ports in Saint Lucia, including Cul De Sac. King criticised the operations at Port Castries and suggested a more streamlined 24-hour service would assist in addressing present backlogs.
“We need to be able to make Port Castries as a cargo port, a 24-hour port. We cannot work 8 to 4 and believe it is sufficient, not in a port where it is utilised for both tourism and industry or cargo. We need to look at making it a 24-hour port. So you can work at nights, next day you can use it for the cruise ships, but you know you’re maximising the hours that you have in a day,” he said.
Key on the government’s agenda is the completion of the air traffic control tower and the Hewanorra International Airport. The Saint Lucia Air and Seaports Authority has issued the tender for the completion of works in January. Minister King, although noting that he cannot divulge much information as the tender process in ongoing, stressed the importance of a timely completion.
“We need to expedite that process so as to complete the tower because all of the necessary equipment is on island and the air traffic controllers certainly do need that breathing space because of the condition of the existing tower,” he said.
King adds that other measures have been initiated to ease the flow of arrivals at the airport.
