Premier Establishes Capital Budget Meetings to see $65 Million in Projects Completed

By Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer 

#TurksandCaicos, June 12, 2023 – With more than $65 million on the line this financial year and a poor track record of completing capital projects on time, the Government has decided that going forward, every three months the Governor, Premier, Cabinet Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, Deputy Permanent Secretaries and other employees will gather in a Capital Board Meeting to give account of and plan for planned capital projects.

Premier Washington Misick, who heads capital projects, made the announcement during the National Budget debate, during the May 19th session.

“The programming of capital projects is within the remit of the Premiers’ Office and so the Government has embarked on an ambitious capital works program. An investment of $65.1 million is being made in the public sector improvement program and efforts are ongoing to speed up the time of delivery,” he said.

These accountability meetings are well needed, as practically half of the $65 million budgeted for capital projects is ($32.8 million) for ongoing and re-appropriated projects according to the Premier.

The first meeting has already been held and Misick explained the process in a Facebook post on May 22nd.

“The quarterly Capital Board Meeting is where the elected Government and the senior leadership of the civil service come together to evaluate, discuss, strategize, and design plans for the financial year.  Capital Board Meetings provide an opportunity for all key stakeholders to provide updates on capital projects undertaken by the Government and discuss new initiatives in the pipeline.”

Another meeting is due in the second quarter of this financial year which begins in July and ends in September.

The Premier also oversaw the creation of the National Delivery Unit, a department made up of project managers hired to firmly steer the country’s ten priority projects to completion.