TEAM UNITY GOVERNMENT CONTINUES TO PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES FOR LOCAL CONTRACTORS

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, January 24, 2019 (Press Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister) – With a number of capital projects coming on stream in 2019, as well as the continuation of several major projects throughout the year, the Team Unity-led Government of St. Kitts and Nevis is making every effort to ensure small contractors across the length and breadth of the country reap the benefits from these significant infrastructural investments.

Speaking at Wednesday’s groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the new Sandy Point Police Station, Prime Minister Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris stated, “We believe that every citizen deserves a fair chance. We believe that every opportunity in the country should be opened up to anyone from St. Kitts or Nevis to at least get the opportunity to bid on a particular project.”

Skeete and Associates was the successful local company contracted for the construction of the new Sandy Point Police Station following an open and transparent bidding process.

Prime Minister Harris commended Mr. Anthony Skeete of Skeete and Associates for his successful bid, and spoke highly of the work his company is capable of doing.

“He knows what he’s doing and he has some outstanding works to show for it. You go to Brighton’s and you see Windsor [University School of Medicine’s] main building and the annex building—all those beautiful buildings that are part of the Windsor University, I am told time and time again that it is thanks to Mr. Skeete,” the prime minister said.

Similar sentiments were echoed by Deputy Prime Minister and Parliamentary Representative for Constituency Number Five which includes Sandy Point, the Honourable Shawn Richards, who noted that contractors from within the community of Sandy Point were given a fair shot at bidding for the Sandy Point Police Station project.

The minister said, “When time came for bids to be delivered for this project I was given the opportunity to submit names of contractors from Sandy Point to provide a bid for this police station. At the end of this process, none of those contractors emerged as the one to build the police station but the contractors here from Sandy Point can say that they had the opportunity to provide a bid to build this police station.”

Prime Minister Harris previously stated that it is a hallmark of his Team Unity Government that “where we can, we have welcomed and encouraged our local contractors to participate in the public sector infrastructure development.”