Staff Writer 

#TurksandCaicos, August 11, 2023 – Many Turks and Caicos Islanders are spending unsustainable amounts of money on housing, according to data gathered by the Housing Department via the National Housing Needs Survey, emphasizing the need for affordable homes.

Dominique Durham, Deputy Permanent Secretary of Physical Planning and Infrastructure Development

“Respondents of that Survey provided that the majority of households spend more than 50 percent of their income on housing expenses.  Now, as a rule of thumb, especially in America, if you spend more than 30 percent of your income on housing, it is deemed not affordable,” Dominique Durham, Deputy Permanent Secretary of Physical Planning and Infrastructure Development, revealed.

He shared other significant data collected that showed the dire state of the housing market locally, including that nearly a quarter of residents live in damaged homes.

“It also revealed that 21 percent [of respondents] are living in homes in need of repair and 69 percent are looking to purchase a new home within the next five years,” Durham said.

Despite the intent to buy a home, the survey also revealed that many Turks and Caicos residents thought the housing market needed more affordable options for them to be able to bring that dream to fruition.

The majority of residents (32 percent) voted for the Government to create more options for affordable housing when asked what would best improve their housing needs.

Other popular suggestions included:

• Creating Government housing loan programs (25 percent)
• Housing subsidies (15 percent)
• Home improvement/refurbishment programs  (11 percent)

All of those suggestions voted on by residents have made their way into the Housing Policy as either short-term or long-term programs.

Jamell Robinson, Minister of Physical Planning and Infrastructure Development

“Long-term projects include inclusionary zoning, large-scale housing through public-private partnerships, and eventually, we will be establishing a National Housing Authority and Trust whereby we hope to lend at affordable interest rates.  We also are looking to roll out help-to-buy schemes in the near future as we appreciate that an issue is also access to financing,” he said.

The Government is aiming to use these suggestions, voted on by residents, to fix the gaping hole in the market, but even with these new programs, there’s one thing residents say they need to purchase homes– better pay.

Jamell Robinson, Minister of Physical Planning and Infrastructure Development, was hit with the question of whether the Government would start to pay residents more so they could have more cash to afford housing.

The minister said step one was increasing public cash flow (with a pay and grade review for the public service now being conducted), and step two was upskilling all individuals to make them more marketable in the private sector.

“Our Job– is to ensure that our citizens as Turks and Caicos islanders can add value to themselves so they can participate more in the open market, and one of those ways is by making the community college free so you can access higher education– in a free open market which we have here, it’s hard to dictate to the private sector what they can pay a specific individual so we want to grow our individuals to make sure that they can level up,” he explained.

The Housing Policy launched on July 27th in Providenciales.

Staff Writer 

#TurksandCaicos, July 31, 2023 – An explosive back-and-forth in the House of Assembly on Wednesday, July 19th, has exposed a clear line of separation regarding the potential Public-Private Partnership to redevelop the Providenciales/Howard Hamilton International Airport.

Several senators on both sides of the House expressed concern over the Motion, while others defended it wholeheartedly.

Members of Parliament, including Akierra Missick, Member of Parliament for Leeward and Long Bay, Matthew Stubbs, Member of Parliament for The Bight, and Edwin Astwood, Opposition Leader, expressed serious concerns about the clarity of the motion and surrounding communication from the government.

The Opposition Leader continued to vocalise concerns about a partnership that could turn sour.

“Our people have been burned too many times by these big contracts,” he said.

The Leeward and Long Bay MP emphasised the confusion stemming from how the $400 million project was being presented to the people, expressing that the government was allowing it to fester because of their approach to communication about the massive deal.

“The issue is we did not communicate effectively, where we were seeking to get to today.  A press release here and there, an argument with Magnetic Media, a print release, [that] isn’t sufficient.  We allowed this mischief to fester on the streets, and then we [the members of the House] are just obligated to agree on what is being put in front of us when no one said, ‘Let’s have a meeting.’  We meet on smaller bills all the time, so I was shocked that for something this detailed, members of the House, didn’t really get a chance to vent, articulate, or ruminate on where we need to go.”

Missick, taking offence to the insinuation that some members of the House did not truly understand the processes necessary in the procurement, revealed that not only had it not been discussed in a meeting with PNP backbenchers, but said she was confused and she knew others were as well because the documents seemed to suggest a PPP was the only way to go.

Akierra Misick during her statement said, “It says Section 26 of the PPO has decided to utilise a public-private partnership procurement method.  Utilisation seems to be the result of a decision, not a consultation or a request for a genuine clear approach to support an option.  I don’t believe that there had been any malice, but I would like to, when I say yay or nay at the end of this debate, make sure that I have made the best decision possible with the information that has been given to me.”

She questioned why an international airport operator was potentially being hired when the local companies had proved competent, maintaining that she was struggling to see the benefit to the islanders.

“[People] don’t want jobs working for international operators, so let’s stop throwing this idea of employment around without understanding what that actually means [my people] ain’t sweeping no bathrooms– my people shall own and operate their own businesses from this airport, and they should be able to do so without worrying about being priced out.”

Citing the massive surplus enjoyed by the TCI Government each year, she rejected the reason for entering into the PPP to avoid debt.

Following her contributions, the MP to the Bight also stood up.

“I would like to get a little bit more time— to get a better explanation on how Turks and Caicos Islanders will be benefitting from the redevelopment of the airport.’  Stubbs said and then queried what programs would be implemented to train islanders to take up positions in the airport.

“I need more clarification– this feels like an exploration— I am a PNP member, this is my government, but I have people to represent– to represent my people, I need more details,” he maintained.

The supporters of the bill, including Washington Misick, TCI Premier, Jamell Robinson, Minister of Physical Planning and Infrastructure Development and Arlington Musgrove Minister of Immigration and Border Services, held fast to several points, including that residents would be able to invest and it was faster and more economical to do the PPP.

“The greater the amount of risk transferred from the government to a private investor, the greater the value for money for the project,” Musgrove said.  “If the project is not executed through a PPP and executed through traditional contracting, the project would be the lead for an additional two or more years.”

The minister explained that public financing would be less straightforward and would likely lead to taking on more debt.  He also said that public operators were less efficient than private operators, often only getting to 95% of what private operators achieved.

“Over the years, TCIG and the TCIAA simply have not maximized the income potential of the Providenciales International Airport,” he said.

Both Misick and Musgrove also seemed keen on emphasising that there was no sale of the airport, lashing out at social media chatter that they said was baseless.

Robinson, for his part, announced that residents would soon be able to buy shares in the airport, which was welcomed by both sides of the House.  He explained how the potential investment could work.

“If each Turks and Caicos Islander finds $1,000 to invest in this project, we could easily find $15 million and [say] this government finds $15 million to match that— and what if the NIB, through their Domestic Investment Fund, that’s the people’s money- invests 20 million dollars—right away were looking at 10 percent of whatever investment tied up in the duration of the contract– right then we would have some real ownership stake in our airport, ” he explained.

The contributions from Akierra Missick prompted a tirade from the Premier who lashed out at the MP for what he described as an ‘astonishing speech.’  He seemed to have taken issue with her comment that other Members of the House were ‘throwing shade.’

“I am not at all surprised about some of what has been said here today.  This doesn’t apply to everybody, but clearly, on behalf of one person, the argument became too personal.”

He went on to slam the motives he perceived from the speeches, appearing to single out the representative of Leeward and Long Bay in particular.

“It was an astonishing speech from one particular person so far, I interpret that as a mixture of cherry-picking facts without any figures that I find to be self-serving and selective, and to be honest with you, distortion, misrepresentation, and misquotations that’s what I saw.  This particular piece of infrastructure is just too important for us to allow ourselves to be distracted by people who are smarting over sour grapes, and that’s all. It is an intent to create confusion to the public.”  He said of Missick, who until January of this year, had been a member of his Cabinet and was dismissed without explanation.

The Premier still did not address the concerns regarding how the motion was communicated to the public or other legitimate concerns raised by both the MPs who spoke.

Amid the verbal melee, the bill was pushed through and has since passed.  But it passed without the input of the Opposition and several members who had to leave because of time constraints, including Akierra Missick.

Staff writer 

#TurksandCaicos, June 5, 2023 – “Building Resilience, Take Action,” is the theme of this year’s Atlantic Hurricane season from the Department of Disaster Management and Emergencies, and Jamell Robinson, Minister of Physical Planning and Infrastructure Development is encouraging residents to be ready and to abide by the law as opposed to Government having to force their compliance.

The theme and advice were both unveiled in the 2023 Atlantic Hurricane Season Joint Press Conference on June 1st.

“The Caribbean is now experiencing a level of hurricanes and impacts we haven’t seen in a long time,” he said. “My personal motto is– it only takes one. We cannot let our guards down, we as residents must take the necessary precautions for the possibility of a major storm.”

Robinson, who is the minister with responsibility for the DDME, urged that it was never too early to prepare and residents should begin now if they haven’t already.  He laid out what those preparations should look like.

“Please do not forget you should have at least a three day supply of food and water.”

In addition to that, he said residents should now: Create an emergency family plan; secure their homes and clear surroundings of loose objects that can become missiles in heavy wind.

While the residents are expected to do this of their own free will, the Government does have the legal muscle to issue Orders to ensure safety and reduce risk.  Minister Robinson informed that TCIG will not shy away from using all resources available.

“There are Orders that you can issue to persons who don’t have their premises well kept– that goes beyond just littering– that is something we will be looking into in sort order particularly going into the hurricane season to make sure that properties that might have projectiles,” he continued, “we’ll encourage them to move those speedily– you can only ask so often before you have to utilize law.”

“We can’t risk other people’s lives because of dereliction of duties of some.

Also unveiled at the event was a jingle borne of a Caribbean-wide initiative encouraging residents to be “Disaster Fighters.” Residents from The Bahamas, Grenada, Haiti, and more were featured on the track.

Attending the June 1 press event were: Allison Gordon, Director of DDME; Dr. Holly Hamilton Director of the TCI Meteorological Service; Garvin Thomas, Director of Public Works and Deputy Permanent Secretary of PPID and Adrian Malcolm, Assistant Development Control Engineer from the Department of Planning.

Staff Writer

TurksandCaicos, May 15, 2023 – The Isaac Farm in North Caicos is sure to be well supported with some of the country’s largest businesses pledging their support including Graceway Supermarkets, Grace Bay Resorts, and Beaches Turks and Caicos.

Beaches in particular was recognized as a steadfast partner by founder Courtney Missick. He described them as one of the companies that helped him with trucking, machinery, and more.

“These are the people that I call on to help me,” he said, gifting the organization an honorary key to the farm. Tanya Swann, Director of Sales received the gift on behalf of the company.

Jamell Robinson, Minister of Physical Planning and Infrastructure Development in presenting the token, expressed hope that the partnership could continue far into the future. Graceway Supermarkets also received a key of their own recognizing the significant partnership with them over the years.

Beaches Turks and Caicos, Graceway Supermarkets and Grace Bay Resorts are all corporate citizens whom have been lauded in the past for their community involvement.

Staff Writer   

The Turks and Caicos Physical Planning Board has approved several private applications for residential properties that will provide more than 100 new apartments for Providenciales. The conditional approvals came in a March 30th Board meeting.

The Board decides on all potential construction in the country.  This includes fence construction to extensions to homes, as well as small and extensive construction across the inhabited islands.

In Providenciales, conditional approval was granted to seven different developers for eleven new apartment buildings and one extension, which when complete, will add a total of 141 units to the housing market.

In Grand Turk, an application for an airplane hangar for the Royal Turks and Caicos Police Force was forwarded to Cabinet.

There were no other apartments listed for the other islands.  The approvals come as the Government revealed it needs 600 new homes each year to avoid a housing crisis.

Staff Writer 

#TurksandCaicos, April 13, 2023 – The Government is sweetening the deal for anyone thinking about developing an apartment complex as residents building long term rentals in the Turks and Caicos, will soon be eligible for up to 100 percent in duty exemptions on their building materials, according to Jamell Robinson, Minister of Physical Planning and Infrastructure Development.

The Minister was a guest on Financially Speaking on RTC FM hosted by Drexwell Seymour.

Mentioning the ambitious 600 home per-year quota that the Government will have to fill for years to come Robinson said, “We’re looking to give anyone who is building 5 units or more up to 100 percent duty free so you can make your application.”

When the Housing Committee is operationalized, it will be up to that body to decide on these concessions. In addition, he said those concessions should still apply whether the building was for sale or rental as long as the intent was for a long term residence.

The emphasis on long term, he explained, was because the tourism boom has driven up the number of vacation rentals in the country which has an effect on the housing market.

“If you intend to do a short term rental, then it would be disqualified because that’s a different set of concessions; that’s a different business model. We don’t want to encourage persons to build for condos or rental sales, and then that also goes into the short term market. That defeats the purpose because a part of our issue right now is a lot of people converted their long term homes or apartments to short term.”

This lowered the amount of available homes for long term occupation, exacerbating the housing shortage. Robinson said the concession which will be for those developing crown and private land for mixed use units, and single family homes will be officially introduced to the public next month.

Staff Writer 

#TurksandCaicos, March 14, 2023 – The government is actively tackling informal settlements with at least two demolitions scheduled for early March. The information was revealed at a press conference hosted on Wednesday March 1 by Jamell Robinson, Minister of Physical Planning and Infrastructure Development at CrackPot Kitchen.

“We are currently visiting two active sites that we are looking to carry out some demolishing works, one in Grand Turk and the other in the Lower Bight,” said Toriano Williams, Deputy Director of Planning.

Williams explained that the Department had already carried out the majority of its due diligence as it related to legislation including getting enforcement notices approved at the Board level, by the Director and also by the Minister.

“Sometimes these sites are sometimes the breeding grounds for criminal activities and improper use of the spaces in terms of disposal of solid waste. In any event, if there is an emergency those persons that live there are vulnerable [having] no access by emergency personnel,” he said.

Williams maintained that it was for these reasons as well as hurricane risk in unplanned areas that residents should endeavour to involve the Planning Department in all of their construction.

Jamell Robinson, Minister of PPID maintained that despite the urgency of the issue the demolitions would be carried out humanely.

“Informal settlements [have] been a vexing issue for decades in this country so we have to demonstrate to people that we are cognizant of it and we are doing something about it. We are doing it by the law and we are doing it in a humane way to make sure all involved are not adversely impacted.”

Minister Robinson confirmed that there is cooperation with the Human Rights Commission; keeping them abreast of all the steps as the demolition process progresses in order to avoid stalling or delays once the Order is given, due to humanitarian issues.

“We legitimately have to get our hands around it and it’s not only government land– what was a two-bedroom little shanty becomes a ten-bedroom in no time.”

It was 10 months ago, during the TCIs First Climate Change Summit that Washington Misick, TCI Premier made a promise that the government would address the settlements with a new task force.

Also present at the press meeting were all four PPID Departments, namely: Toriano Williams, Deputy Director of Planning; Neroy Kennedy, Director of Estate Management; Ian Constantine, Deputy Director of Capital Projects and Dominique Durham, the Director of Housing.

Photo:  Toriano Willilams, Deputy Director of Department of Planning, TCIG

Staff Writer 

#TurksandCaicos, March 13, 2023 – The Turks and Caicos Ministry of Physical Planning and Infrastructure Development is being recognized in the United States after winning an award for the country’s National Physical Development Plan.

Jamell Robinson, Minister of PPID made the announcement in a recent press conference. He said the award, bestowed by the American Planning Association would be presented in Philadelphia describing it as an important achievement.

“I think that’s a big deal, even if I have to go there on my own expense to be there to collect that award it definitely shows the work that went into that plan to get that type of recognition– That’s something that we are very proud of,” Robinson said.

Robinson took over the Physical Planning and Infrastructure portfolio from former Minister Akierra Misick in November 2022.

The plan which was launched in October 2021 was the first in 20 years and determines the distribution of the country’s land, encouraging sustainable physical, economic and social development, while protecting and enhancing the natural environment of the TCI.’

The APA which will present the award next month, is a non-profit organization with 40,000 members from 90 countries across the globe.  APA describes itself as exclusively for charitable, educational, literary and scientific purposes to advance the art and science of planning and the activity of planning at the local, regional, state and national levels.

The APA National Planning Conference will be a four-day event lasting from April 1–4 this year.

Staff Writer 

#TurksandCaicos, March 9, 2023 – Hundreds of promised streetlights will finally make it to communities of the Turks and Caicos this year according to Jamell Robinson, Minister of Physical Planning and Infrastructure Development (PPID). 

“Our annual budget from FortisTCI is about 250 lights, but we are looking to invest another $1 million in solar lights that should get us another 500. So over the next year that should get us 750 lights across the country.”

Street lights had been raised by the Premier at the start of the country’s most notorious crime wave in the final quarter of 2022; said then to be critical for safety and security and as a deterrent to crime.

Robinson, was however speaking at more recent press conference held at Crackpot Kitchen on March 1 and attended by all Departments in the Ministry of PPID. The project is covered under the $5 million re-allocation for roads and electrification as part of the 3rd Supplementary Appropriations Bill recently tabled in the House of Assembly.

“We wanna light up the place not with just regular electricity but with solar.” He said, “So in those areas that we can do that it will make a big difference for communities across the country. Some will be in communities, some will be on the highways. Wherever there is darkness we intend to put light over these 12 months,” he promised.

Under this Policy, the Housing and Community Renewal Department will seek to offer safe and affordable housing that is a basic necessity for every family.  By extension, the Turks and Caicos Islands Government will be able to provide better access to adequate shelter, affordable accommodation and housing options throughout the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The National Housing Policy includes various programs and initiatives that will address the housing needs in the Turks and Caicos Islands under four (4) categories, these are Social and Equitable Housing; First Time Owners; Existing Homeowners; and Community Renewal Programs.

The approval of this Policy outlines the various programs that the Department will be implementing in three phases: short-term (6 months-1 Year), medium-term (1-3 Years) and long-term (3-5 Years).   In the coming months, the Housing Department will be executing three programs as a start, and these will be;

Program 1: Housing Concessions for Residential Developers,

Program 2: Home Improvement Programs, and

Program 3: Community Urban Renewal and Infilling.

In commenting on the approval of the Housing Policy, Hon. Robinson said,

“After some 20 months of hard work and engagement by the many stakeholder, including the Department of Housing and Ministry personnel, I am pleased for us to have taken this major step in finding a workable solution to our housing crisis within the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The three outlined inaugural programs are much needed and timely. We will quickly finalise the implementation process followed by a formal launch for public consumption early next month.

Contractors, Developers, Financial Institutions and those that desire to be first time home owners will be once again engaged to see how and where they can participate in and benefit from these programs.”