Prime Minister of St. Kitts-Nevis Says the Federation Will Soon Embark on Geothermal Drilling Project
KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent – St. Kitts-Nevis Prime Minister, Dr. Terrance Drew, Tuesday said that the twin island Federation is soon to embark upon geothermal drilling after his administration had agreed with the opposition on the need for a united approach towards developing the project.
Prime Minister Dr. Terrance Drew addressing OECS Assembly in St. Vincent (CMC Photo)Addressing the seventh sitting of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Assembly, being held under the theme “Strengthening Regional Unity in a Shifting Global Order,” Prime Minister Drew said that Nevis has enriched deposits of geothermal and “one of the largest in the Caribbean.
“It's very accessible based on all the studies. Five C’s (Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre) said that Nevis has the most accessible geothermal in the whole region. That is their studies, even though Dominica has gone ahead, which of course we applaud and we look to.
“But because of the Federal system of St. Kitts and Nevis, no one government would ever have the opportunity to really leverage that unless there is cooperation between government and opposition…in the country.”
Drew told the Assembly that he sat with the Opposition Leader in the twin island Federation “and he and I decided, this resource, we will not have any dispute, we will approach it as a single entity.
“And we have done that. Look at the results that we have gotten. We have reached the point now where we are about to open…drilling for geothermal , something that could not have been done for decades because of political strife”.
Prime Minister Drew said that his message to the Assembly, which is being attended by opposition legislators is that “there are things we will always disagree, we can disagree on 95.55 per cent, but there has to be one or two major things that we must agree on”.
He said that such a policy can advance not only the individual countries in the sub-regional grouping, but also the region.
“So, my message is, let us continue to work to bring greater unification which will result in benefits to all of us and I want to use St. Kitts-Nevis as an example,” he told the Assembly, a regional parliament consisting of representative parliamentarians from all OECS member states, both government and opposition.
Earlier this year, the government said it had taken a “monumental step towards energy independence” and had secured the full financing required to launch the Federation’s first geothermal energy project.
It said that this landmark achievement propels the Federation closer to its goal of becoming a Sustainable Island State, reducing reliance on fossil fuels, and slashing energy costs for citizens.
The government said that the geothermal energy project aligns with its ongoing push for renewable energy, including its 50-megawatt solar farm initiative. With energy costs poised to drop significantly, St. Kitts & Nevis is set to attract new industries, stimulate job creation, and enhance national resilience to global energy shocks.
The OECS groups the islands of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Kitts-Nevis, Montserrat, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands.
