Dominica: Construction of the Kalinago Multipurpose Centre officially begins

Less than a month after the Government of Dominica signed contract with two local companies, the official groundbreaking of Kalinago Multipurpose Centre was held on Friday.  

This comes a month after the Dominican government inked a contract with local companies OYO Construction Inc. and Virtuoso Architects Ltd (join venture) for the construction of Kalinago Territory Multipurpose Centre and emergency Shelter, its ground-breaking ceremony was held on Friday, January 31, 2025.  

The agreement worth EC$ 7.6 million marks a major investment in the well-being and resilience of the people of the Kalinago Territory. The facility in Bataca will function as an emergency shelter and hub for community development, showcasing the government’s firm commitment to sustainable development and climate resilience. 

The rain-affected ground-breaking ceremony was attended by a number of top ministers and officials from the Dominican government besides representatives of international organizations such as the Caribbean Development Bank, foreign governments such as Canada, firms that are constructing the project and the media, and other dignitaries. Dominican President Sylvanie Burton was also present.  

CBD’s Isaac Solomon speaks 

Speaking on the occasion, Isaac Solomon, former acting president of the Caribbean Development Bank (CBD), said the facility is a component of the project to build resilience and adaptive capacity to climate change and disaster risk in the Kalinago Territory.  

He said the project was developed as part of CBD’s Community Disaster Risk Reduction Fund. It finances projects which reduce the impacts of natural disasters and support climate change adaptation in communities across the Caribbean region.  

Solomon said the fund is a multi-donor trust fund which was established by CBD in March 2012. He added that countries such as Canada, the UK and international blocs such as the European Union provided resources to set up the fund.  

Solomon, who is the vice president, operations, CBD, said the lender is aware of excessive expenses of recovery and construction after natural hazards which increases sovereign debt and reduces fiscal space impacting the hard-earned development gains.  

He said governments find it difficult to implement poverty alleviation and sustainable development programmes in such situations, which was seen after Hurricane Maria in 2017.  

He mentioned that in January 2018, the Canadian government through Global Affairs Canada authorized the reallocation of more than US$2 million from the fund to assist Dominica with community-level rebuilding efforts.  

Speaking about the upcoming project, the CBD official said it seeks to strengthen resilience in the Kalinago Territory by bolstering the ability of the indigenous people to improve their capacity for community-development planning. The local people participated in the centre’ design. 

He said the centre will also give necessary resources and infrastructure to support entrepreneurship, skills development and cultural preservation. He added that the Kalinago project is critical to Dominica as it contributes to Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit’s vision of the country becoming the world’s first climate-resilient Small Island Developing State (SIDS).  

He also said the project adheres to the principles of free, prior and informed consent. The identity, dignity, human rights, cultural uniqueness and other aspects of the Kalinago people have been respected.  

Lucien Blackmore, Permanent Secretary in the Dominican Ministry of Environment, Rural Modernisation, Kalinago Upliftment and Constituency Empowerment who anchored the event, rectified Solomon saying the island-nation aspires to become not just the world’s first climate-resilient SIDS but a country.  

The official, who said at the beginning of the event said the project’s work started in February 2021 and full community engagement was witnessed. Various stakeholders, including the Kalinago Council, a hamlet action committee and broader groups took part in 97 meetings involving more than 2,000 residents to show their involvement at the grassroots level.   

Canadian representative speaks 

Abebech Assefa, Canada’s head of cooperation for the Eastern Caribbean, wished the people of Dominica and the Kalinago Territory on behalf of Canadian High Commissioner to Barbados and Eastern Caribbean Brenda Wills.   

She said the shelter project reflects two priorities of Canada’s engagement in the Caribbean – building resilience and supporting the indigenous communities. She said Ottawa always takes special care about indigenous relations and reconciliation not only within the Canadian border but also beyond it and the engagement in Kalinago Territory with various partners proves that.  

She said the activities in the Kalinago Territory not only involve international, national and local partners but also the community stressing a broad range of issues. They include: economic empowerment of the Kalinago women and supporting community-based tourism in the territory to ensure that when tourists visit the region, they experience the rich Kalinago culture and boost economic opportunities.  

The official also mentioned about Climate Resilience Execution Agency for Dominica (CREAD), which is backed by Canada and plays a key role in the Kalinago Multipurpose Resource Centre & Emergency Shelter project. 

Assefa said the ground-breaking ceremony marked a major milestone and recognized efforts made by everybody to make the project successful. She called it a space which will not only provide safety in times of natural disasters but also be a place to learn about culture and celebrate. The official said Canada will continue to provide training to personnel for operating the centre.  

Minister Cozier Frederick speaks 

Cozier Frederick, Dominica’s Minister of the Environment Rural Modernisation and Kalinago Upliftment, said the ceremony was held for a noble purpose – protecting the most sacred gift called life.  

He said the shelter would be more than bricks and beams. He said it would be a promise that no life would be left unattended, a sanctuary where fear would be met with protection and uncertainty with stability.  

Frederick said building the shelter is an act of solidarity and that they are on a mission to build the world’s first climate-resilient country and it had to include the Kalinago people.  

Minister Roland Royer speaks 

Roland Royer, Dominica’s Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, Blue and Green Economy called the moment a historic one and the ground-breaking ceremony as something that symbolizes progress, resilience and his government’s deep commitment to the development of the Kalinago Territory.  

Royer, who represented Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit at the event, said the upcoming the centre will represent safety, empowerment and opportunity for generations to come.  

“The construction of the shelter is packed of our broader strategy to fortifying our communities against increasing threats of climate change and natural disasters,” the minister said, adding growing number of storms and extreme weather events heavily impact Dominica’s communities and the people of the Kalinago Territory are among the most affected.  

Royer said the shelter also speaks about an overarching national disaster preparedness strategy and the country’s efforts since 2017 to strengthen infrastructure and provide safety to the people. 

The minister said the multipurpose centre will also serve as a space for education, training, economic activity and community engagement. 

The event also saw a performance from an indigenous cultural group.  

Kalinago development officer gave the vote of thanks and it was followed by rituals of ground-breaking ceremony. 

The project is expected to be completed in 16 months.