Turks and Caicos Post Cabinet Meeting Statement

#Providenciales, February 15, 2019 – Turks and Caicos – His Excellency the Governor, Dr John Freeman, chaired the 4^th meeting of the Cabinet on Thursday, 7 February 2019, at the Hon. Hilly Ewing Building on Providenciales.

All Ministers were present. PS Finance and the Commissioner of Revenue were present for the HRTT discussion only. The Chairman of National Recovery Task Force provided a briefing by phone on imminent plans.

At this meeting Cabinet:

·       Approved the designation of Crown Land Parcel 60514/9 as a quarry mining site and granted the DECR management responsibility subject to evidence of an environment impact assessment or exception under TCI Law.

·       Approved a long-term lease of 25 years, with an option to renew, over Crown Land Parcel 60003/246 to Kenzal/Tazana Disposal Services Ltd. for the construction and operation of a municipal waste recycling facility.

·       Approved a long-term lease of 99 years, instead of 25 years, over Crown Land Parcel 50500/90 to Mr. Navance Handfield for the construction and operation of a villa hotel and multi-complex centre.

·       Approved the public tender of Crown Land Parcels 60605/73 and 78 to Core Resources Ltd. and for an easement over a portion of Crown Land Parcel 60605/179 for the purpose of installing underground fuel lines to facilitate the development of a fuel farm.

·       Approved a long-term lease of 25 years, with an option to renew, over Crown Land Parcel 60804/140 to Precision Group Ltd. for the development of a two storey apartment complex.

·       Approved a long-term lease of 25 years over Crown Land Parcel 60804/142 to Mr Hugh Marvin Henfield for the development of an entertainment and conference centre.

·       Approved the subdivision of Crown Land Parcel 10403/101 to create two lots for residential purposes.

·       Approved the subdivision of Crown Land Parcel 10403/111 to create two lots for residential purposes.

·       Approved the naming of the New Post Office in honour of the late Mr George Brown.

·       Rejected a re-categorization of outstanding network and licence fees/arrears owed to the government by Cable & Wireless / Flow and an amendment to the Fee Structure Regulations 2016 to reduce the Full Telecommunications Service Network fee’s threshold value by half.

·       Approved the reallocation of funds under the Development Fund Project number (PN) 005477 for road development in Blue Hills and Five Cays awarded to Island Drilling Ltd.

·       Noted and discussed proposals for the implementation of the National Recovery Plan by the National Recovery Task Force.

·       Noted and discussed recently agreed tenders and work by the Public Works Department before the end of the financial year. 

·       Agreed amendments to a previously agreed paper on the Hotel and Restaurant Ordinance (Amnesty, Validation, Variation (Amendment) Bills 2019) (HRTT) which will now be forwarded to the House of Assembly. 

·       Were updated by the Premier on EU listing, development of the budget and receipt of a response from the FCO on the FSPS.

·       Noted and discussed ongoing water challenges on Salt Cay.

·       Were updated by the Minister of Health and condemned intentional initiation of fires at the Providenciales municipal waste site. Praise was given to the Airports Authority and local fire station for their support.

Further information on these matters will be provided by Ministers in due course.

Release: Governor’s Office