Roseau: The government of Dominica is making every possible effort to make the Caribbean island the world’s first-ever climate-resilient nation. To achieve the aim, another milestone has been achieved by the Dominica government as it commissioned two more climate-resilient shelters.
The commissioning ceremony took place on Wednesday, May 25 2022, in Castle Bruce and Jimmit, respectively. The commissioning of these shelters comes ahead of the 2022 Atlantic Hurricane Season that starts from June 01 onwards.
While highlighting the significance of the shelters, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit stated that these shelters will strengthen the country’s response to natural disasters and help build resilience against Hurricanes and Tropical Storms.
Prime Minister Skerrit further emphasised that after being destroyed by Hurricane Maria in 2017, the administration of Dominica has been creating strategies to place the nation in a better position in terms of resilient infrastructure.
The government has been building a new, strong nation that will withstand Hurricanes and Storms’ ravage. The construction of these shelters started in mid-September 2020.
Furthermore, he stated that these facilities would improve the country’s Hurricane and disaster preparedness and allow them to become resilient.
The total cost of constructing these Hurricane shelters is about $32 million. Jimmit and Castle Bruce are the facilities costing 18 million and 14 million, respectively.
As per the government, the emergency shelter in Jimmit has the capacity to shelter around 500 and Castle Bruce will provide shelter to about 300 individuals.
The European Union (EU) financially assisted the government of Dominica in its effort to build climate-resilient shelters which can withstand any natural calamities.
Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit also stated that Dominica will be getting assistance from the European Union to build additional emergency shelters in Kalinago Territory, Grand Bay, Portsmouth, and La Plaine. He also stated that regional centres will be constructed in Marigot Western area.
Besides this, the Citizenship by Investment Programme of Dominica is helping the country build back better as the majority of development projects are supported by the country’s CBI Programme. The government of Dominica is heavily investing in socio-economic growth and constructing climate-resilient homes, roads, bridges, schools, hospitals, as well as the international airport using the funds generated through the CBI Programme.
The citizenship by investment programme has been working as a catalyst for the development activities in Dominica. Launched in 1993, it is the world’s fastest, safest, most secure and transparent economic citizenship programme in the world and is recognized for its multi-layered due-diligence checks on applicants.
The CBI Programme of Dominica is ranked number one in the world for five consecutive years by the CBI Index published by the Financial Times’ Professional Wealth Management (PWM) magazine.
The government of Dominica emphasizes its applicants’ overall integrity and ensures the applicants’ credibility by hiring renowned independent third-party agencies to perform due diligence checks. The comprehensive scrutinization helps ensure that only the people with outstanding character are accepted as economic citizens in the country.
The candidates who are interested in applying for alternative citizenship of Dominica can invest through two investment options – Economic Diversification Fund (EDF) and Real Estate.
Economic Diversification Fund (EDF) – The applicants can apply for the alternative citizenship of Dominica through EDF. This fund option provides assistance to socio-economic initiatives, including the construction of climate-resilient homes, health centres, schools, playgrounds, and more.
Minimum Investment: USD 100,000
Real Estate – The applicant has to purchase a Government-approved property to invest under the real-estate option.
Minimum investment: USD 200,000
Dominica, also known as the Nature Isle of the Caribbean is a land with beautiful and mesmerizing nature gems. Dominica is one of the best travel destinations with 365 rivers, unnumbered waterfalls and the world’s second-largest hot spring – the boiling lake.
Over the years, the country faced massive destruction caused by multiple natural disasters, including Tropical Strom- Erika, Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria.
The category five hurricane Maria damaged 90 percent of the country’s infrastructure and changed its entire fate.
After this tragedy induced by Hurricane Maria, PM Roosevelt Skerrit pledged to make Dominica the “world’s first climate-resilient nation”, which led to the establishment of the Climate Execution Agency for Dominica (CREAD). Following this, the Cabinet of Dominica gave a green signal to the Disaster Resilience Strategy as an Annex to the Climate Resilience and Recovery Plan (CRRP).