Montserrat Today
For Wednesday/Thursday March 25/26, 1998
Presented by the Information Unit of the
Government of Montserrat's Emergency Department
A newsletter published three times weekly for E mail subscribers by the Emergency Dept, Governor's Office.
THE VOLCANIC EXPLANATION:
Seismic activity at the Soufriere Hills Volcano continues to be at a low level. Over the last few days there has been poor visibility of the dome due to low cloud cover, however it is not expected to have grown in any direction.
The dust levels at all monitoring stations are at very low levels, recent rains have washed away most residual dust in the northern parts of the island.
FACTORY SHELL UPGRADED:
The factory shell at Brades which was constructed last year at a cost of £650,000 is to be partitioned at an extra cost of £90,000 to enable the occupation of small businesses.
Work commenced earlier this month and it is hope to have it completed by the end of May. The project is being undertaken by the Public Works Dept.
FURTHER WORK AT THE HOSPITAL:
The second phase of the £1 million hospital improvement project started last week. The hospital is situated at St John's and old classrooms are being converted to new hospital wards and associated facilities.
The work is being undertaken by local firm, Galloway's Construction under the supervision of Melvin Tebbutt of DFID and Public Works Engineer, Venrick Forrester.
HOT MIX PLANT IN FULL SWING:
>From next Monday the new hot mix plant at Brades will be fully operational. Over the last few weeks trials have been undertaken with the plant and some asphalting of roads has taken place.
From Monday the northern roads rehabilitation project will go into full swing from Hilltop to St Johns at a cost of £1.2 million.
The hotmix plant, supplied with British funds at a cost of over £1 million will be managed by the Public Works Dept.
WATER UPGRADE IN THE NORTH:
The water supply improvement project in the north of the island is underway. The project calls for the installation of a new 6 inch transmission pipeline from St Peters to Dick Hill, two new pumping stations at St Peter's and Baker Hill, and the construction of a 500,000 gallon storage tank at Dick Hill.
In addition a holding resevoir will be constructed at St Peter's to ensure a 3 day storage capability in the event of mechanical breakdown.
All the new housing in the north will be gravity fed from Dick Hill and the resevoir there will be fed with water from the Centre Hills springs.
The British finded project will have an overall cost of £750,000 and is to be undertaken by the Montserrat Water Authority.
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY MEET TODAY:
The Montserrat Chamber of Commerce and Industry will meet tonight (Thursday) at the home of president Bruce Farara in Olveston to discuss a number of issues.
Expected on the agenda is a discussion on the upcoming small enterprise scheme which is to be administered by the National Development Foundation. This British funded project will make small loans available to business places.
More news later in the week..................................
Published by the Education & Information Unit, Emergency Dept St John's Village, Montserrat, Leeward Islands, West Indies. Tel: 664 491 7166 Fax: 664 491 2474 E mail: monmedia@candw.ag Richard Aspin, Unit Co-ordinator.