Dominica: Ceremony for $51.3 million EO LeBlanc Highway work set for Friday

The government of Dominica has announced the official commencement of the project to rehabilitate the EO LeBlanc Highway after it was damaged by Tropical Storm Erika.

The groundbreaking ceremony, in Macoucherie Estate, will begin at 4pm on Friday, 18 August.

The work is being financed with a grant from the Chinese government.

Minister of Public Works and Ports Miriam Blanchard said: “The ceremony is the culmination of more than one year of preparatory work on this eagerly-awaited and important project.

“The government of Dominica appreciates the patience of the traveling public to date and solicits the continued tolerance of road users as work progresses. The RMB126 million (approximately EC$51.3 million or US$18.9 million) project will cover rehabilitation of identified damaged areas along the 45 kilometres of the EO LeBlanc Highway as a gift to the government and people of Dominica from the government of the People’s Republic of China.”

Relationship with China

Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has previously stressed how Dominica enjoys “sincere and good relations” with the Chinese government.

This bond is has led to a number of critical infrastructure projects, a spokesman from the prime minister’s office said.

“The Chinese government has always demonstrated its true friendship to our country especially in difficult circumstances which our country has found itself,” Skerrit said.

“It is important for us to recognise countries will always have diplomatic relations between themselves but there is something called sincerity which must be an important ingredient in that relationship.

“We thank the government of the People’s Republic of China for its generosity and for always demonstrating its genuine solidarity with Dominica.”

The governments of Dominica and China signed letters of exchange in July 2016 that paved the way for the grant funding.

The opposition United Workers Party, including leader Lennox Linton, has recently been in China for what they described as "party-to-party" talks – although their trip has been criticised by some for "embarrassing" Dominica overseas.