Kenneth Rijock Praises Dominica's CBI Infrastructure Success Under PM Skerrit

Dominica: Financial crime consultant Kenneth Rijock, despite being a longstanding critic of the Citizenship by Investment (CBI) Programme, appears to have finally acknowledged the commendable leadership of Prime Minister Dr Roosevelt Skerrit. This comes after he published a detailed analysis on August 13 and highlighted the major infrastructure developments financed through Dominica’s CBI Programme.

You have to admit that there have been a large number of major projects for the people which the program has achieved, which raises the question of whether the EU order, to close it by June 2028, is not in the best interests of the country, quoted Rijock in his recent article while admitting that the CBI has always served in best interests of Dominica.

Rijock, who is also a former banking lawyer, has previously raised several concerns about the CBI programme as he has said that the projects funded by the programme complicates the future of the nation. The European Union has previously guided Dominica and the four other Eastern Caribbean nations to end their CBI schemes by June 1, 2028.

The recent acknowledgement is particularly significant given Rijock’s history of raising concerns about the programme. In his latest assessment, however, he questioned whether eliminating the CBI Programme altogether would ultimately serve Dominica’s interests, considering the scale of development it has supported.

Rijock highlighted several major projects, including the Marigot Hospital which is a 75-bed, 40,000 square foot facility; a dozen community health centres built across the country; housing programme that constructed hurricane-resistant homes for the residents who lost their homes in the country’s multiple storms; a housing programme; the replacement of the Mahaut Primary School; upgrade of the Dominica Grammar School; construction of the country’s first international airport which he described as having historically been a barrier to fuller development of the tourism sector; the Dominica Cable Car project, that will allow the tourists to reach the Boiling Lake attraction; repair of damaged transportation network, including bridges and major roads and funding for the geothermal energy plant, that is also the first in the region.

Among the most transformational projects identified by him is the construction of Dominica’s first international airport. The project is expected to address one of the country’s longstanding connectivity challenges and create new opportunities for tourism, trade and wider economic development.

Rijock noted that the list of infrastructures developed under the CBI programme goes far beyond this and he intends to detail further projects in a follow-up article. He further emphasised that reforming the programme's deficiencies, rather than shutting it down entirely, would help serve the interests of the Dominicans, better.

The scale of this transformation is particularly significant when viewed against the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria in September 2017. The Category 5 hurricane caused damage and losses equivalent to more than twice Dominica’s annual GDP as it destroyed several homes and severely damaged roads, public infrastructure and essential services.

In response, the Skerrit-led government adopted an ambitious policy of rebuilding Dominica stronger and more resilient rather than simply replacing what had been destroyed.

Notably, CBI revenues have played a major role in supporting the reconstruction effort following Maria. International financial assessments have also recognised that government deposits accumulated from CBI revenues enabled record levels of public investment in resilient infrastructure following Hurricane Maria.