Less than a month after signing the Protocols for Effective Financial Management for the Virgin Islands, the United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office has approved the territory’s acceptance of a $15.67 million infrastructure loan from the Caribbean Development Bank, Premier Dr. Orlando Smith announced today in Virgin Gorda.
Dr. Smith said he was “overjoyed” by the news brought to him via a letter Monday from Henry Bellingham, the FCO minister for the overseas territories.
Financial Secretary Neil Smith said he will travel to Barbados to sign paperwork for the loan sometime next week, and that the funds should be made available shortly thereafter.
The CDB announced last May that it had approved the loan, which is to be used for repairs to roads, drains and seawalls damaged in the storms of 2010. The HOA voted to accept the loan the following month.
See the May 24, 2012 edition for full coverage.
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