Premier the Honourable Reuben T. Meade is praising the refurbishment work done on the Montserrat Cultural Center building.
The Center was used for the first time since refurbishment on Tuesday for the Opening of the Eighteenth Session of the Eighteenth Parliament.
Premier Meade expressed gratitude to the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) for the funds provided for the building’s refurbishment. He says the building will be used for dual purposes: as the house of parliament as well as a Cultural Center.
He thanked the FCDO “for the provision of the funds and also the Speaker of the United Kingdom Parliament, Sir Hoyle, who championed the cause for the financing of a Parliament building in Montserrat.”
Premier Meade explained that “unfortunately, we were faced with a challenge when it was determined that Montserrat was to be graduated from Official Development Assistance. This led to a decision by the funders that the allocated monies must be spent by March 31st, 2026.
The Leader of Government Business said that this was later extended to June 30th, 2026.
“Since there were no architectural renderings available at the time, it was determined in consultation with the FCDO that the best option was to utilise the funds to renovate the rather dilapidated Cultural Centre, which will be used jointly as a House of Parliament and the Cultural Centre. And today, Madam Speaker, we have opened this building as the House of Parliament. Later on, it will be opened for its other use as the Cultural Centre, a dual-purpose building,” he stated.
The Premier also thanked those responsible for bringing the refurbishment works to completion including “the project management team led by Mr. Venrick Foster and Mr. Damien Williams, for bringing in the project on time and well within cost, to the various contractors and workers, who in spite of the many challenges of shipping, have completed the works to a satisfactory quality, to the joint government and FCDO project monitoring team, thanks very much for facilitating speedy decision making on all elements of the financing. Through all the challenges, we have delivered a successful project.”
Meantime, Premier Meade highlighted the acquisition of a new clerk’s table for parliament. The table was provided by the Canadian parliament at the request of former speaker of the House, Shirley Osborne. Premier Meade expressed gratitude to the Canadian parliament and former speaker Osborne for the initiative.