Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writer 

#TurksandCaicos, May 9, 2024 – PNP Administration says the 2024/25 budget is one for the people and Washington Misick, TCI Premier laid out the $485 million allocation detailing what will directly benefit each island from Grand Turk to Providenciales. Another $19.7 million in new spending was allocated to the total budget of 63 million for capital projects.

Big ticket items to be completed this year under the capital expenditure umbrella include the National Identification System and the Digitalization of Border Services with allocations of $3.7 million and $12.6 million respectively.

The $12.6 million allocation for Border Services will be split over three budget cycles

“We have ensured that the capital program brings some improvement to each island,” the Premier maintained.

The promises may not hold as much weight for some with the government consistently failing to spend its allocations for capital projects. In 2023/24 only $29 million of the $57 million allocated was spent

Misick sought to explain this “The Public Sector Investment Programme for 24/25 includes projects that started in the last financial year. For some of these projects, there was no tender take-up and for others, the tenders received did not satisfy the evaluation criteria.”

The Capital Projects the Premier listed include:

Grand Turk and Salt Cay

• Construction of West Road and Pond Street Bridges – $650,000
• Construction of drains and site work at the Helena Jones Robinson High School and remediation works on the Ponds. – $3.6 Million
• Upgrading of roads, bridges, and ponds such as Mission Folly and West Road  $3 Million
• Grand Turk Market and Welcome Centre – $1 Million
• Matthew Canal works, Salt Cay – $800,000

Several of these including Pond Street works are longstanding projects

South Caicos 

• Improvements to Cockburn Harbour – $500,000
• Solar Street Lights – $250,000
• Redevelopment of the Conch Ground Facility $1.5 Million
• Redevelop Regatta Village -$1 Million
• Community Road Repairs – $3.5 Million

North and Middle Caicos

• Renovation of the Bambara Beach Vendor Market – $750,000
• Solar street lights – $250,000
• Whitby Roads – $1.1 Million
• Renovate and refurbish the Horse Stable Beach Community Park – $500,000
• Bottle Creek Community Centre -$1.5 million

Nearly all of these projects have been budgeted for before notably, Bambara and Horse Stable Beach Projects.

Providenciales

• New drainage and other improvement work -$3.4 Million
• Pave and repair roads – $4.9 million
• Upgrade recreational parks in Blue Hills, Kew Town, Five Cays, and the Bight – $500,000
• Leeward and Long Bay community roads and solar lights – $500,000
• Community Centre for the Bight – $1.5 million
• Solar streetlights for the Bight – $250,000
• Refurbishing of the Gustavus Lightbourne Sports Complex roof and floor- $800,000
• Road works in Kew Town, including pedestrian crossing – $350,000
• Solar street lights for Kew Town – $250,000
• Way finder signage for Blue Hills – $150,000
• Solar street lights for Blue Hills – $250,000
• Mobile Clinic for Blue Hills – $300,000
• Solar street lights for Sapodilla Bay – $250,000
• Paving of roads in Wheeland – $500,000
• Solar street lights and recreational pavilion for Wheeland– $750,000

In tabling these projects, Misick admitted that the government has a serious issue with delivering large-scale projects.

“We have a capacity problem. We are facing tremendous challenges in developing and implementing big-ticket projects. Public servants are working hard, but the onerous processes, insufficient resources, inadequate technology, outdated laws, an unwillingness to adapt by some, and bureaucracy are frustrating delivery.

That must change.”

The Premier revealed that $300,000 has been set aside in an effort to make the procurement process smoother. Another $1.8 million will be spent on project initiation and project development plans. Misick says that this will allow the government to plan projects a year in advance, speeding up delivery.

With this being the final budget before elections the government has one financial year to complete the projects that they have not been able to pin down since 2021.

Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writer

#TurksandCaicos, May 9, 2024 – With over 50 percent of rooms sold, the Arc Providenciales has officially been greenlit for construction.

The Arc is part of the South Bank development set on the south coast of Providenciales which in total has already sold $ 250,000,000 worth of real estate.

The project offers four different neighborhoods, complete with a private lagoon and man-made islands, which are all selling fast, The Arc, Ocean Estates, which are nearly sold out all clocking between $4 and $14 million in sales, Boat Houses with 34 out of 38 sold and Lagoon Villas which start at $2 million up.

Described as the heart of the South Bank project, The Arc, named after the gently curving design of the building, will be the Turks and Caicos’ most iconic property according to developers.

In a May 2 webinar attended by Magnetic Media, developers revealed that the building will sport a 150-foot-long pool alongside a man-made beach protected by a concrete sea wall but still connected to the open ocean.

The beach is due for completion by November with groundbreaking for the Arc set for the second quarter of this year. The Arc, like many newer TCI properties, will be part residential, part hotel. It’s the last property in the development and the feather in the cap of developer Ingo Reckhon.

Included in the sky villas, which are the most exclusive of the rooms on the Arc, will be indoor-outdoor kitchens, hot tubs, pools, outside gardens, boat slips, and the Turks and Caicos’ first-ever boat concierge service.

It is to be managed by Grace Bay Resorts.

“Both of us are Turks and Caicos companies operating here for over 30 years. We both believe in our people and we hire local employees,” said a representative from Grace Bay Resorts during the meeting. In attendance were dozens of homeowners who have bought into the TCI dream ’live South Bank.’

New construction is a major contributor to stamp duties in the Turks and Caicos and enriches the real estate market in which resale properties are few and far between. The government expects that it will collect over US$50 million in stamp duty taxes from land sale transactions in the 2024/25 financial year.

Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands, 9 May 2024 – The Integrity Commission wishes to inform the public and, in particular, to remind the Specified Persons in Public Life (Declarants), as set out below and in Schedule 1, that they must file their Declarations of Income, Assets and Liabilities, as required by Section 39 of the TCI Integrity Commission Ordinance.

The filing of declarations will take place, on an on-going basis, during the months of May and June 2024.

All Declarants are required to deliver their completed Declaration forms, along with the relevant supporting documents, in person, at an office of the Commission, BY APPOINTMENT ONLY.

Declarants will be contacted individually, with a specific date, time and location, for delivery of declaration forms.

Specified Persons in Public Life include the following:

• All Specified Persons in Public Life who made their last filing on or before 30^th June 2022.
• All persons who are appointed to Statutory Boards, effective 1^st April 2024, or thereafter.
• All Specified Persons in Public Life who are appointed, within the TCIG Government, effective 1^st April 2024, or thereafter.
• All persons who are no longer sitting members of Statutory Boards, as at 31^st March 2024.
• All persons who have resigned their posts, or whose contracts have not been renewed, within the TCIG Government, are required to file within 90 days of the end of their tenure.
• All other persons who are considered Specified Persons in Public Life, but who would not have been aware of their obligation to file, under section 39 the Integrity Commission Ordinance.

Declaration Forms are available on the Commission’s website at: www.integritycommission.tc.

For any inquiries about an appointment, please call 946-1941 or 941-7847 or send an email to info@integritycommission.tc

For those declarants who fail to attend their scheduled appointment, please be mindful of the following:

A failure, without reasonable cause, to file a Declaration is a criminal offence, punishable with imprisonment for 1 year, or a fine of $15,000, or both. In addition, the Commission is, among other things, obligated to publish the fact of such failure in the Gazette.

All Declarations are confidential documents. Please DO NOT submit your completed Declaration form through a third party, or via electronic or surface mail. 

Persons who have filed a Declaration during the calendar year 2023 and, were required to do so at that time as per regular filing cycle, will NOT be required to file in 2024.

Schedule 1 below details all Specified Persons in Public Life (Declarants) who are required to file a declaration.

SCHEDULE 1

(Section 2)

SPECIFIED PERSONS IN PUBLIC LIFE

1. Members of the House of Assembly
2. Members of Cabinet
3. Deputy Governor
4. Permanent Secretaries
5. Under Secretaries/Deputies Secretaries (or post of equivalent rank)
6. Clerk and Deputy Clerk of the House of Assembly
7. Chief Financial Officer
8. Chief Auditor
9. Accountant General
10. Complaints Commissioner
11. Chief Economist
12.       Chief Statistician
13. Chief Medical Officer
14. Heads of Department
15. Director and Deputy Director of Planning
16. Director and Deputy Director of Surveys and Mapping
17. Registrar and Deputy Registrar of Deeds
18. Registrar and Deputy Registrar of Lands
19. Director and Deputy Director of Education
20. Director and Deputy Director of Immigration
21.       Collector and Deputy Collector of Customs
22.       Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner of Lands
23. Chief and Deputy Chief Valuation Officer
24. Deputy Heads of Departments, where the Head of Department is not called a Director
25. Deputy Attorney General
26. Crown Counsel
27. Clerk of Courts
28. Registrar and of Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court
29. Supervisor of Elections
30. Members of the Public Service Commission
31. Commissioner of Police, Deputy Commissioner and Officers at or above the rank of Superintendent
32. Special Advisers (Inserted by L.N. 64/2012)
33. Members and Staff Members of the Integrity Commission
34. Chairman, Executive Officers, Directors, Deputy Directors and Members of any  body referred to in paragraph (d) of the definition of “public body” in the Ordinance
35. Any person who has a statutory duty to record the minutes of meetings of a commission, statutory board, public authority or other body referred to in item 34 who signs the entity’s books and is involved in its business and affairs
36. Any person who acts in an office referred to in this Schedule for a continuous period of six months or more.

(Amended by Ord. 1 of 2009 and 15 of 2010, L.Ns. 7/2012, 29/2012 and 64/2012 and s. 6(1) Turks and Caicos Constitution Order 2011)