Parliament gives green light to Saudi Arabia loan

Roseau (CMC):

The Dominican parliament on Friday gave the nod for the island to seek a US$41-million loan from Saudi Arabia to fund the implementation of the Roseau Enhancement Project and the construction of an entertainment complex.

The government said that the complex would include a bowling alley, built-for-purpose theatre, a recording studio for artistes, among other features.

Finance Minister Irvine McIntyre told legislators that the loan from the Saudi Arabian government, through the Saudi Fund for Development, will be for an infrastructural rehabilitation project in the capital.

He said the repayment will be over 20 years with an interest rate of 2.5 per cent, with a grace period of eight years.

“Mr Speaker, this is a must to-do, urgent project. The cost of construction continues to rise, and so waiting longer would mean further increasing the cost of the project. Imagine what the cost would have been if we had done this project in 2018, or even 2020,” McIntyre said.

Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said that Saudi Arabia had sent officials to Dominica to appraise the project and “conducting their own due diligence, reviewing the scope of works (and) walking the streets of Roseau with the engineers”.

GRATEFUL

“We are very grateful to them for these most generous terms,” he added.

Meanwhile, Skerrit, who is also the chairman of the 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM) grouping, said that regional countries will be attending the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai from November 28 to December 12, seeking to capitalise on investment opportunities.

“Dominicans have to appreciate that the world today is much more difficult than it was 15 years ago. The impact of climate change is significant and you are seeing countries that never knew flooding, are experiencing floods…and this is becoming a global challenge.

“The reality, is the developed [economies] would want to treat with their issues before they treat with us…but we are going to COP 28 with some pessimism, but some optimism. It is an injustice that is being meted out to us as developing countries and we can’t give up, we have to persevere.

“So we in CARICOM are going there with all guns blazing to represent the Caribbean people at COP28 at the end of this month. But the reality is, this is a very challenging world with all of the geopolitics taking place.

“But we are very grateful we have very good relationships out there…whether it is the European Union, the United Kingdom government or the US government…whether it is the government of Japan...the People’s Republic of China and our friends, the Venezuelans. And now we have this excellent relationship with Saudi Arabia, even Qatar, which will be sending a team to Dominica very soon to explore opportunities of investments, and, of course, the United Arab Emirates”.

Skerrit said that Dominica also had good relations with various international financial institutions like the World Bank.