“I’m pleased that our local contractors are successfully and competitively bidding on contracts. So far, they have been delivering successfully, on time and within budget and this must be applauded. All they needed was an opportunity,” Premier Fahie said.

He added that since the week of May 7, 2020, when the COVID-19 curfew was first declared in the BVI, the Ministry of Finance and the Recovery & Development Agency (RDA) signed several contracts with local companies as a means of boosting the economy.

“So the construction industry in the BVI is doing extremely well because of the conscious decision made by this government to focus on that area and get it going,” Premier Fahie added.

The Fahie administration has been advocating for local contractors since the start of its term. To show this support, the administration revised the original Recovery & Development Plan that was approved after the 2017 hurricanes devastated the BVI.

Among other things, the revised plan makes more contracts available to locals.

Since then, the RDA has announced that 90 per cent of its contracts have been awarded to locals.

The combined value of these contracts is more than $20 million.