Junior Minister Honourable Marlon A. Penn (R8) said he has set up local district committees to help with many of the things that need to be done for the district. Photo: VINO/File

Some of the road works done in East End. Photo: VINO/File

Junior Minister for Trade and Investment and Representative for the Eighth District Honourable Marlon A. Penn is confident that his constituents have nothing to be afraid of in terms of his being able to fully represent the district now that he has ministerial responsibilities. Photo: GIS

Honourable Penn said too that the garbage issue is another vexing one for the district, saying that persons continue to dump indiscriminately in the community. Photo: VINO/File

More dumped garbage in the East End area. Photo: VINO/File

“I don’t think it is going to take away anything from me in terms of my focus on my district. The work that I do in Trade also encompasses the entire territory but I am still focused on the issues plaguing my district,” he said, speaking in an exclusive interview with Virgin Islands News Online on Saturday January 23, 2016.

Honourable Penn said he has set up local district committees to help with many of the things that need to be done for the district.

“We remain focused on the issues in the Eighth District so I think that I have a good team of people behind of me,” he said.

“It is all about balance…finding the right balance to be able to execute my full time responsibilities as far as the Ministry is concerned as well as my first call which is to my constituents, as they are the ones who sent me to the House of Assembly to represent their interests,” he said.

Virgin Islands News Online was first to report that Hons Marlon A. Penn and Archibald C. Christian were identified as Junior Ministers and the first to report on the Swearing In Ceremony held at the Office of the Premier on December 16, 2015.

Hon Penn was announced as having the portfolio of Trade and Investment, while Hon Christian was handed the portfolio of Tourism.

The new Minsters are not members of Cabinet, but will assist in the performance of Ministerial functions relating to economic development.

Roads & sewerage the main issues

According to Honourable Penn, the main issues for him in the district remain sewerage and the road infrastructure, noting that those have always been a priority for the East End/Long Look community.

“We have done a lot of the infrastructural work in terms of the sewerage. What is left now is to connect the main line from Parham Town to go all the way to Paraquita Bay to the BiWater Plant so that we would be able to give the residents relief as it relates to the sewerage.”

He said the road network has always been a challenge and noted that they have been able to fix a large portion of the road from the bridge to Parham Town, but that the road from Parham Town going into Paraquita Bay is in a state of disrepair.

“The challenge is you fix the road and then you still have to dig it up to do the sewerage and we are trying to coordinate the sewerage works with the road improvement works. So I am just asking my people of those communities to be patient and we will do as much mitigation as we can to make it less of a hassle to traverse that road.”

Stiffer penalties for indiscriminate dumping

Honourable Penn said too that the garbage issue is another vexing one for the district, saying that persons continue to dump indiscriminately in the community. “We really need to strengthen our enforcement efforts as it relates to that,” he said. “I feel there need to be stiffer penalties.”

He added that while bulk waste and builder’s waste are supposed to be taken straight to the incinerator for disposal, people are still dumping such waste in the community.

“We are trying to bring this under control. We have been making appeals to people to cease and desist from such practices,” Honourable Penn said.

He said too that he is also working with the Waste Management Department to bring it under control as it could have a devastating effect on the district, given its size and the fact that it is among the first places visitors must traverse when they arrive at the Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport.