The area known as Elevator Hill has received a much needed facelift. Photo: Team of Reporters

Many legislators have gone from praising the Registration Apprenticeship Training Employment and Development (RATED) programme, the brainchild of Premier and Minister of Finance Dr the Honourable Natalio D. Wheatley (R7), to criticising it. Photo: GIS/File

The cutting of the bushes in the Parsons area of Sea Cows Bay now means greater visibility for drivers and a sense of pride for the many residents who live in the immediate area and others who drive on the area’s roadway. Photo: Team of Reporters

Many residents have continued to complain about the poor state of the Territory’s roads and added to that is the lack of landscaping. Many legislators have gone from praising the Registration Apprenticeship Training Employment and Development (RATED) programme, the brainchild of Premier and Minister of Finance Dr the Honourable Natalio D. Wheatley (R7), to criticising it.

Many agree it’s the only ‘game in town’ to provide residents with jobs, training, and apprenticeship, since the one-man Commission of Inquiry (CoI) imposed by the UK has set back the Territory for decades and made the people worse off.

Facelift for one small area

In the meantime, over the last two days, August 1 to 2, 2024, the area going up the steep hill going west before Nanny Cay has been cut and bush and debris taken away. Many residents in the area have praised the work and said there are still many secondary roads where the bush is higher than the cars or even pedestrians.

The Elevator Hill is located in District Three represented by Opposition Member and veteran legislator Hon Julian Fraser RA.  The ruling Virgin Islands Party regime; however, has promised no district would be left behind and has moved swiftly in keeping that promise.

The cutting of the bushes in the area now means greater visibility for drivers and a sense of pride for the many residents who live in the immediate area and others who drive on the area’s roadway.

The RATED government-run programme was started in 2022 to provide jobs for residents, training and apprenticeship and to help clean up the Territory. Jobs do not only include cutting bush but work in offices and other community projects on a short-term basis.

The CoI has recommended against giving out petty contracts, claiming it was corrupt, and has now left many residents in near poverty.