Prime Minister Tillman Thomas on Wednesday welcomed a US.5 Million dollar loan agreement with the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) to be used for the repair and renovation of 10 schools and 17 Kitchen facilities around the country.
A signing ceremony was held at the Head Quarters of the Fund in Vienna, in which Grenada’s Ambassador to the European Union, His Excellency Stephen Fletcher, signed on behalf of the Grenada Government and Mr. Sulimna J. Al-Hebrish Director General, signed on behalf of OFID.
Among the schools that will benefit from the rehabilitation programme are St. Giles Anglican, St. Andrew, St. Mary’s Roman Catholic, Woburn Methodist and MacDonald’s College.
Prime Minister Thomas reaffirmed his Government’s “commitment to deepen the relationship with the Fund as we continue to advance our development agenda to improve the well being of our citizen”.
The Grenadian leader pointed to a number of priority areas including youth development, assistance to the most vulnerable in our society, and development of our potential oil and gas reserves. In addition to signing the loan agreement for the School Rehabilitation Project, the government also proposed the immediate reactivation of discussions on the investment operation that was already under consideration.
“My Government, therefore, request assistance from the Fund to finance an Energy for the Poor Project, injection of capital into the state owned Grenada Development Bank (GDB), financial assistance for youth employment and entrepreneurship, and assistance to development of our oil and gas reserves,” the Prime Minister said in communicating with the OFID official.
Minister for Education, Hon. Franka Alexis-Bernardine who was in Paris attending the 189th meeting of the Executive Board of the United Nations Educational Cultural and Scientific Organisation (UNESCO) meeting, said she was “delighted” at the news.
“This day has been long awaited. The students and staff of the respective beneficiary schools could now look forward to improved physical facilities over the next few months. We are excited and indeed pleased to be able to deliver on our promise to enhance the physical learning environment for our nations’ students and staff around the country,” The Minister said.
Minister Bernardine said the improvement in physical infrastructure will serve as a good complement to the Ministry’s new thrust into Universal Secondary Education, where every primary school child will be given the opportunity to a full secondary education.
The Minister, while commenting on this much needed injection of capital into the physical infrastructure into the schools, also reflected on the strides made in the soft side of education, including curriculum development, teacher training, provision of scholarships and other forms of support.
Minister for Finance, Nazim Burke, also praised the agreement, which he said is a “welcome injection of financial resources into the economy. It will definitely provide a boost to the local economy, particularly in communities where these schools are located. This will certainly put an ease on the unemployment situation at the local and national level.”
Addressing the audience at the ceremony, Ambassador Fletcher traced the long history of the “development partnership” between Grenada and the “Fund”, dating back to the 1980’s when Grenada received assistance with the construction of the International Airport, and the more recent assistance provided under the feeder roads programme.
The Director General highlighted the Fund’s mission, to partner with Governments in developing countries, in order to improve the living standards of the people in these countries and thereby alleviate poverty.
He concluded by saying, “The diversity of the sectors being financed will target areas instrumental in promoting socio-economic development and tackling poverty; such as providing communities with safe drinking water and modern energy supplies and helping develop rural infrastructure.”
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