Basseterre, St. Kitts, January 20, 2023 (SKNIS): Minister of Public Infrastructure and Utilities et al, the Honourable Konris Maynard said the Government has committed to fixing the water problem that the country has been faced with.
Responding to a question about the water issue at the Prime Minister’s Press Conference on January 18, Minister Maynard said that the Government is putting its money where its mouth is since it assumed office on the 5th August, 2022.
“In the last Budget that was passed, we increased the Budget for water by 260 percent. In 2022, before we took office, the Budget was 8.7 million dollars and the Budget of 2023 is 22.7 million dollars, an increase of 14 million dollars,” Minister Maynard said.
“That shows the commitment of the Government to deal with the water issue. I want to stress that there has been no investment and no attention paid to water in seven years and so we come in on the heels of a national crisis and so I want to say that this Government and this Ministry will solve the water problem,” he said.
He explained that St. Kitts is only capable of producing 5.6 million gallons of water per day, but in order to sustain the country for 24 hours a day in a seven-day week, the country needs to produce about seven 7 million gallons.