Dominica commissions two emergency shelters ahead of Atlantic Hurricane Season’ 22

Roseau: The Commonwealth of Dominica has been fighting the war against climate change and to place the country in a better position the government of Dominica has recently commissioned two more regional emergency shelters.

The inaugural ceremony was scheduled on May 25, 2022 (Wednesday) on Castle Bruce and Jimmit, respectively. The emergency shelters have been provided at the right time as the Atlantic Hurricane Season 2022 has official begun from June 1.

PM Skerrit proudly announced the commissioning and mentioned that the shelters will provide strength to the country’s response to natural disasters and will help build resilience against Hurricanes and Tropical Storms.

Prime Minister Skerrit further underlined that after being devastated by Hurricane Maria in 2017, the government of Dominica has been developing 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.

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Furthermore, he said that these facilities would enhance 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 14million, 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 worldfor 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 applicantscan 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 applicanthas 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).