Dominica to host CDB’s Special Development Fund Meeting
By Mara Etienne-Manley
Dominica has been chosen to host the Caribbean Development Bank’s (CDB) upcoming negotiation meeting for the replenishment of its Special Development Fund (SDF) in March 2012. The Special Development Fund was first established in 1970 and offers grants and loans with longer maturities and grace periods, as well as lower rates of interest than apply in the Bank’s ordinary operations.
The SDF facility supports CDB’s Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF) programme which provides funding for community development projects in Dominica and other beneficiary countries such as St Kitts and Nevis, Grenada, St Lucia and Antigua.
Funding for the SDF is provided in 4-year replenishments. Contributors to the SDF enter into negotiations with the Bank with the objective of agreeing on the priority areas which should be addressed by the Bank over the next four-year cycle.
During the third week of October, an advance team from CDB was on island to meet with government officials in preparation for next year’s meeting. The team was headed by Ms Monica La Bennett, Deputy Director (Ag.) of the Corporate Planning Division.
Ms Monica La Bennett, Deputy Director (Ag.) of the Corporate Planning Division
Ms La Bennett told local reporters at a media briefing that the Basic Needs Trust Fund programme is an important facility for Dominica as several recent infrastructural projects taking place across the country have been financed under the Bank’s Special Development Fund.
“This last cycle, Dominica had about US$10M in allocation. So far, we’ve given a lot of assistance in terms of the road network. We funded the valley roads, right up to the tourism sites; we are funding the Point Michel Sea Defense [wall], we funded the sea defenses in Canefield; through BNTF we have funded some rehabilitation work at the Social Center in Roseau, we have done some work with the medical center in St. Joseph, we have had three large water projects, two of which are probably the largest [to be implemented] under the BNTF programme,” she explained.
Ms La Bennett says the BNTF programme is currently in its sixth year, and that Dominica has been a beneficiary since inception. This coming March, Dominica will host the negotiation meeting as well as CDB’s Board Meeting, and La Bennett says this is a good opportunity for others to see the fund’s contributions to Dominica’s development.
By the end of this year, Dominica will have benefitted from a total of ninety-two (92) sub projects under the CDB’s Basic Need Trust Fund programme. Fifty-nine of those projects are infrastructural developments valued at 4.6 million dollars.
