“They've never seen Category 5 hurricanes, they've never seen pandemic. I started down in Jacob’s well… that’s where the district was, in the pit, in darkness. I had to do about twelve years of work in four years,” he said.

Hon Wheatley was at the time speaking to host Cindy Rosan on the Tuesday, April 11, 2023, edition of Cut Deep, on his achievement in the district over the past four years.

“I didn't have the luxury of them taking twelve years to do the things I had to do in four years. I had to do what normally would have taken twelve years to do,” he added.

Hon Wheatley said some of the work he has done included rebuilding government, home, and police buildings, including schools and more infrastructure in the district that was ravaged by the hurricanes of 2017.

Rebuilding after hurricanes

He added while more could have been done, some work was paused as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which also had economic and financial impacts on the territory.

“I remember… after the hurricane, I met a gentleman, he [had] just came from Anguilla and he said to me 'yall would take one year before you get power'. He said 'Anguilla in far less damaged than you are', and it's gonna take them a year.”

Hon Wheatley, while thanking the BVI Electricity Corporation (BVIEC), added that in about two months electricity in the district was restored.

Meanwhile, Hon Wheatley said one of his greatest achievements as Minister of Natural Resources and Labour was the number of land disputes he was able to settle and titles given to persons.