St. Lucia Online: Last Week's News

FOR THE BEST IN WEB-BASED COMMUNICATIONS

St. Lucia Online logo
Flag

Reprieve from gallows for convicted murderer

Prime Sites    News    Sports   Jobs    Entertainment    Community    Society    Other Links   Obituaries

Hyatt Regency to open in late November: search for staff is on

Children's Home celebrates anniversary

Silver jubilee for Fire Service - but alarm bells sounded

Drastic drop in quality of bananas - but new cultivation technique underway in Mabouya

Magistrates' courts  grind to a halt again

River posioning: oil factory indicated but not yet charged

Pt. Seraphine berth said to be stabilising

Flower growers launch cooperative society

Roundabout functions properly: praise all around

National Employment Centre on the way

Certification of tour guides

Claudia Edwards under contract for two CDs

THIS WEEK'S HEADLINES

Caribbean Week News
CANA News
Caribbean Newspapers

CANA Business
CANA Busine$$(Mag)


NEWSPAPERS:

RADIO STATIONS:

  • Helen 100 FM
  • Radio Caribbean International
  • Radio St. Lucia
  • Gem Radio

TELEVISION:

GIS - Government Information Service
 

Hyatt Regency to open in late November: search for staff is on

    Hyatt Regency St. Lucia - a new luxury resort that has been under construction along the Pigeon Island Causeway since last year - is expected to be ready for a 'soft opening' by late November. Work on the hotel has been progressing rapidly: the interior of the 300 room hotel is currently being fitted out, while exterior work has reached final stages. Also, recruitment of  400 members of staff has commenced, with job vacancy advertisements for upper and middle management positions appearing in some of this week's newspapers (see also St. Lucia Online's Job Vacancy page). Simultaneously, work on the adjoining Rosewood Resort is said to be advancing satisfactorily also. Piled foundations for the 100 cottages, a central restaurant and health spa buildings should be completed next week, and construction of a man-made lagoon is virtually finished also. Rosewood Resort - like the Hyatt Regency not an all-inclusive hotel - is expected to be ready for opening in September of next year.
    Construction of the Hyatt and Rosewood hotels is being undertaken by the Rochamel Group. Rochamel are the major shareholders in the owning companies of both hotels, and the completion of the Rosewood hotel will bring Rochamel's long-term investment in St. Lucia to over US$100 million. It will also have created 600 new long term jobs, and an average of 550 temporary construction jobs. All main newspapers this week carry a press release to this effect. The Crusader, however, is the only one to independently pose questions about the situation regarding the much-debated casino at Hyatt Regency. Although no formal government approval has been given, the Crusader claims that an official of Rochamel Construction says that "the casino will be ready for operations ahead of schedule". Furthermore, the newspaper writes that "a government official who prefers to remain anonymous told this reporter [that] at no time was Hyatt prepared to continue with the project if they were not given an approval in principle" - implying, in other words, that the dye has long been cast to allow gambling facilities in St. Lucia.

    ñ BACK TO TOP OF PAGE ...

Holy Family Children's Home celebrates anniversary

    The Holy Family Children's Home in Ciceron celebrates its second anniversary this Sunday with a special Mass at St. Benedict's Church. Chief celebrant at the Mass is Archbishop Kelvin Felix. Other invited attendants are board members, staff from the home, members of the media and other home supporters. The children's home was set up two years ago to assist abused and orphaned childen from throughout the island.

    ñ BACK TO TOP OF PAGE ...

Silver jubilee for Fire Service - but alarm bells sounded

    Despite a pressing need for more manpower, more advanced equipment, more technical expertise and new legislation to provide it with 'teeth', the St. Lucia Fire Service this week celebrated its 25th anniversary by renewing its pledge to guarantee "the protection and preservation of life and property from fires, accidents, floods, dangerous chemicals and other disasters". This was reported in the Voice and Star newspapers.
    Chief Fire Officer Augustin Gaspard, last week, told the local media that understaffing is one of his department's main headaches. The Star quotes him as saying that: "Currently, there are 172 members in the fire service. This year I asked for an increase of 60 recruits, I only got 21". Another major worry to Gaspard is the absence of a fire station to serve the Gros Islet area - an area described by the Chief Fire Officer in The Voice as "the fastest developing and, in my view, the most vulnerable community in Saint Lucia". The Voice goes on to quote Gaspard thus: "You will notice that there are a number of high-rise buildings in Castries and there are a number of mega-ships visiting our ports regularly. And so far, thank God, we are lucky. ... But then, what we want is to have the appropriate equipment and a fireboat and have our men trained in this field of fire-fighting. ... There are so many cruise ships visiting Saint Lucia, probably they do not know that we don't have fireboats in the place". In the Star, Gaspard is further cited: "We have buildings which go up to seven floors but our fire equipment only reaches the fourth floor, so we are endeavoring to procure another engine which would be able to extend to the seventh floor".
    Another problem, also reported in the Star, is that the Fire Service "constantly" runs out of water while fighting fires. According to the newspaper, this raises the question of the availability of fire hydrants in critical areas. "Officer Gaspard said many of the city's fire hydrants are covered when the streets are resurfaced thus causing great difficulty for the fire fighters when they get to a fire scene". The Star then quotes Gaspard, who said: "I am not certain that people will appreciate the importance of these hydrants until something serious happens". According to the newspaper, the Ministry of Communications and Works has been made aware of the situation.
    A final concern voiced by Fire Service officials pertains to the legislation outlining public fire safety responsibilities of industrial and commercial businesses. The Star reports an official as saying that this legislation is incomplete because it does not provide the Chief Fire Officer with the means of taking violators of the law to task.
    Celebration of the Fire Service's silver jubilee begins on Sunday with a church service and parade in Vieux Fort. On Tuesday, there are to be open house activities at the island's fire stations (in Castries, Vieux Fort, Soufriere and Dennery) and on Saturday, a gala diner and awards ceremony will be held at the Indies nightclub, under the patronage of Governor-General Dame Pearlette Louisy. Throughout the week, the Fire Service will be implementing a number of community projects.

ñ BACK TO TOP OF PAGE ...

Drastic drop in quality of bananas - but new cultivation technique underway in Mabouya

    The quality of bananas produced in St. Lucia during July and August has fallen by a drastic fifteen percent. This is reported by the Tropical Quality Fruit Company (TQF) in a release to the press this week. Both the Voice and Mirror carry stories on the state of TQF bananas. As a result of the drop in quality, TQF states, it will implement a "near zero tolerance" policy, and also review its open door policy. The latter policy was adopted at the beginning of this year, in a bid to expand TQF's customer base. This succeeded, with the number of farmers agreeing to sell their fruits to TQF growing from 311 in January, to 771 at the end of June. TQF, however, is bound to only sell Certified Premium Bananas to WIBDECO, that is, only fruit of the highest quality. Apart from now endangering TQF's trade with WIBDECO, the fifteen percent drop in quality comes at a particularly bad time. The island's total production for the third quarter dropped by 35%, the price per pound has decreased by 22 cents, and freight costs have increased by 12 cents per pound of bananas.
    During the first half of 1999, TQF's average earning per pound of bananas was still the highest in the Windwards, and its fruit quality second only to Dominica. The Voice directly links the recent fall in quality to the rapid increase of TQF's membership numbers. Both the Voice and the Star report that TQF's corrective measures will include a "near zero tolerance" for below-quality fruit, re-certification of all trading members; a new pricing method which gives incentives for good quality and disincentives for bad quality fruit, and termination of the open door policy for new members as of 30th September.
    Meanwhile,  the Star reports that a "tariffs only" approach is gaining ground in the European Union with respect to its banana import policy. US trade sanctions worth nearly US$200 million a year are forcing the EU to reconsider its current system, which is "a complex mix of tariffs, quotas and distribution licenses [that] favoured the EU's former colonies in the Caribbean over Latin American growers and US marketing giants such as Chiquita and Dole Foods", the Star writes.
    Now that protection of Windward bananas on the European market is crumbling, more and more, the opinion is being voiced that St. Lucian banana farmers ought to approach competition in the global market head-on [see e.g.
    St. Lucia Online's discussion page]. Keith Henderson, an agrononomist working on an EU-funded project aimed at introducing St. Lucian banana farmers with advanced irrigation techniques used in combination with high-yielding tissue culture banana plants, this week stated as much. "Farmers in St. Lucia should not be afraid of tissue culture technology. All your competitors in Latin America use these techniques, and you must keep up to date in order to survive", Henderson told farmers and others involved in the Mabouya Valley project.
    Mabouya is the first location where tissue culture banana farming is being introduced. The Thursday Voice dedicates a full page to a speech Henderson delivered last week, at the official launching of the project. The newspaper explains that whereas farmers usually replant part (or all) of their banana fields every year using 'sword' suckers, the new technology instead uses tissue cultures which are produced from the growing points or 'meristems' of selected plants which are disease free, stronger, and can yield up to three times as much as traditional methods. Furthermore, tissue culture fields with irrigation do not need replanting for between five and ten years, the Voice quotes Henderson as saying. "The splendid initiative at Mabouya, for the use of irrigation, combined with the use of high yielding tissue plants, and good farm management, is exactly what is required to ensure that St. Lucian farmers achieve yields equal to their competitors in Latin America".

    ñ BACK TO TOP OF PAGE ...

Magistrates' courts grind to a halt again

    "Proceedings in magistrates' courts island-wide ground to a halt last week as the temporary magistrates whose term of service came to an end in August were not replaced". This was the lead article in the Thursday Voice. Temporary magistrates were appointed for two months from among the island's corps of lawyers, in June, to relieve pressure on the judicial system which struggles with a large number of vacancies for magistrates. According to the Voice, no one applied for the position of magistrate, which ordinarily carries a remuneration of about EC$4,300 a month. According to The Voice, in a bid to find interested applicants the government has now re-advertised the vacancies, "with new and additional incentives. It is believed that a salary range of $7,000 to $9,000 per month is now being offered", writes the Voice. It continues, however: " Rumours are that the lawyers are still not willing to work for this salary when they could make much more in a month in private practice". The Voice further hints that applicants are now also being sought within the region, from countries such as Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Jamaica.

    ñ BACK TO TOP OF PAGE ...

River poisoning: oil factory indicated but not yet charged

    Investigations carried out by the Caribbean Environmental Health Institute (CEHI) indicate that the copra factory owned by the Coconut Growers' Association (CGA) may be responsible for the poisoning incident which killed hundreds of fish in the Soufriere river last Wednesday [see last week's news] but the report does not confirm conclusively that the factory is indeed responsible for the disaster. Meanwhile, inspectors from the Ministry of Health are conducting an independent investigation into the nature and cause of the incident. Once that report is in, the Fisheries Department, in cooperation with the permanent secretary and the attorney general, will decide on whether or not there is evidence to warrant prosecution of the oil factory. This decision is expected during the course of this week.
    Meanwhile, Joe Allain, manager of the CGA, denies that the factory is responsible for the incident. But Soufriere residents, environmentalists and the researchers conducting the CEHI investigations all maintain that the oil found in the river on Wednesday smelt like rancid coconut oil and is similar to the margarine produced by the factory. They also agree that no dead fish were found above the riverside location of the factory - only downstream from there.
    The Star and Mirror both carry independent reports on the progress of the investigations.

    ñ BACK TO TOP OF PAGE ...

Pt. Seraphine berth said to be stabilising

    One of the two newly constructed berths at Pointe Seraphine has indeed been subject to post-construction sinking. This was confirmed last week by the St. Lucia Air and Sea Ports Authority (SLASPA), and the project manager, Westmar Consultants. This is reported in the Mirror - the same newspaper which, three weeks ago, shocked the nation with reports that berth two was rumoured to be sinking by as much as one centimeter per day. As it turns out, Westmar, SLASPA and Bouygues, the contracting firm, all knew since December 1998 that there was "some variability in geo-technical conditions" where the piles for berth two were being sunk. Even so, however, a Westmar spokesman said "the rate of settlement is beyond what was anticipated". Currently, berth two is sinking about one millimetre a day, Westmar confirms, which is not as fast as it was previously. Settling is anticipated to normalise within the next two months, Westmar says. The firm states that the berth is safe for use, even for mega-cruise ships. The Mirror, however, continues to express some anxiety over the condition of the berth, and particularly the possible financial consequences if ultimately all turns out not to be well. "The contract provides for the client, Port Authority, to be able to take it out of their [Westmar and Bouygues'] cheques up to May 5, 2000. After that, the sinking berth is a St. Lucian problem. Hopefully, SLASPA's consultants are right", the Mirror writes.

    ñ BACK TO TOP OF PAGE ...

Flower growers launch cooperative society

    In an attempt to encourage the diversification of local agriculture, local flower producers have launched the St. Lucia Floral Cooperative Society. The organisation, which was registered on August 20th, convenes its first statutory meeting this Sunday. Amongst other functions, the society will purchase and market flowers from its members, as well as set prices and standards for the flower-growing industry. The Voice, Star and Crusader report on this.

    ñ BACK TO TOP OF PAGE ...

Roundabout functions properly: praise all around

    The roundabout at the Vigie junction, which in the first week of its opening caused traffic coming into Castries from the north to gridlock as far back as Marisule, now seems to be working satisfactorily. The Star, this week, questioned ten randomly chosen users on their experience with the island's first roundabout, and encountered only praise for the project. Even the increased traffic with the start of a new school year, last Tuesday, did not cause any problems, according to the newspaper.

    ñ BACK TO TOP OF PAGE ...

National Employment Centre on the way

    Government is pursuing the establishment of a National Employment Resource Centre to prepare unemployed St. Lucians for (re-)entering the labour market. The centre, which is to be one of four to be established in the English-speaking Caribbean, will recruit, train and re-train unemployed persons. The Voice is the only newspaper to report on this.
    The initiative is backed by Business Fit, a Canada-based specialist human resource development organisation run by a Caribbean national but operating out of Ontario. In June 1997, Business Fit was requested by the Caribbean Development Bank to develop a plan for the establishment of the four centres. The firm is currently conducting preliminary discussions with a wide range of local governmental and non-governmental institutions on the island.

    ñ BACK TO TOP OF PAGE ...

Certification of tour guides

    With a national training program aimed at certifying and licensing tour guides islandwide, the ministry of Tourism and the St. Lucia Heritage Tourism program are trying to improve the level of services provided to tourists, and also curb the incidence of visitor harassment. The ministry invites all tour guides, free-lance tour guides and persons wishing to become tour guides to register with the Product Development Unit in the ministry of Tourism, or at one of the regional offices, before 15th September.

ñ BACK TO TOP OF PAGE ...

Claudia Edwards under contract for two CDs

    Local singer, Claudia Edwards recently landed a three year-contract with a Martiniquan production company to make two music CDs. This is reported in the Star. Claudia Edwards gained fame with her debut single CD 'Sha-La-La', earlier this year [available from Strictly Roots - St. Lucia Online's net shop]. Edwards got her chance after a competition at Waves restaurant, where Maria Lamontagne and Vivian Simon were also awarded combination CD contracts for early next year.

ñ BACK TO TOP OF PAGE ...

 

[HOME]

[CHAT]

[BOOKMARK]

[ABOUT US]

[CONTACT US]

Copyright © 1999 St. Lucia Online - Vieux Fort