Turks and Caicos Post Cabinet Meeting Statement
His Excellency the Governor, Dr John Freeman, chaired the meeting of the Cabinet on Wednesday, 15 November 2017, at the Hon. Hilly Ewing Building on Providenciales.
All Ministers were present.
At this meeting Cabinet:
-
advised His Excellency the Governor to approve the draft Companies (Amendment) Bill 2017 for forwarding to the House of Assembly for approval
-
noted and approved for publication the list of public holidays in TCI for 2018
-
received a briefing by Mr Richard Carpenter, a specialist drafter, on the provisions of a draft Insolvency Bill for TCI and advised His Excellency the Governor to approve the draft Insolvency Bill 2017 for forwarding to the House of Assembly for approval
-
received from the Hon. Premier, as Minister of Finance, an up-dated revenue and expenditure budget forecast for the remainder of the fiscal year following Hurricanes Irma and Maria and discussed savings offered up by departments and proposals drawn up by the Ministry of Finance to address current and projected revenue shortfalls following consultation with Ministers and departments. Cabinet approved a withdrawal warrant to be issued immediately to reclaim savings offered up by departments
-
advised His Excellency the Governor to approve the draft TCI National Refurbishment Policy for existing tourism-related properties in TCI
-
advised His Excellency the Governor to approve the National Insurance (Amendment) Ordinance 2017; the National Insurance (Contributions) (Amendment) Regulations 2017 and the National Insurance (Benefit) (Amendment) Regulations 2017 for forwarding to the House of Assembly for approval
-
approved the waiver of import customs duty on a consignment of imported marine items by the charitable organisation, The Reef Fund, to repair damage to environmental installations in TCI following the recent hurricanes
-
advised His Excellency the Governor to waive storage fees in accordance with Regulation 4 of the Customs (Government Transit Shed and Queens Warehouse Rent) (Amendment) Regulations 2016 for a consignment of building materials and relief items imported by Mr Derek Rolle on 3 September 2017
-
approved the waiver of import customs duty on furniture and appliances imported by applicants before the entry into force of an Order approved by Cabinet on 1 November 2017 allowing such appliances to be imported to replace items damaged by the hurricanes without paying import customs duty
-
approved amendments to the 2016 Immigration Regulations to permit the replacement of paper cards as identification and proof of status for work permits and other immigration documents with wallet size plastic cards. Cabinet further approved the implementation of regulations to guide the process for Business Visitors’ Permits as provided under the 2015 Immigration Ordinance with effect from 1 December 2017
-
received a paper from the Hon. Minister of Education, Youth, Sports and Library Services on Local Scholarship Awards 2017/18 and noted the recommendations of the Scholarship Committee on the allocation of awards. Cabinet agreed that the remaining balance of the scholarships budget should be used to award additional international scholarships
-
advised His Excellency the Governor to approve the draft Maintenance Policy for TCI Government owned properties
-
noted the report and recommendations of a consultancy study to improve the regulation of water and sewage processing in TCI;
-
approved the relocation of the Providenciales Fire Station to a new site on Block and Parcel 60602/414 on the old airport road, Providenciales
-
reviewed the recruitment of the CEO of the National Health Insurance Board (NHIB) and agreed that the position should be re-advertised. Cabinet further called for the recruitment of a CFO of the NHIB to be concluded as a matter of priority
-
advised His Excellency the Governor to approve the draft Rehabilitation of Offenders (Amendment) Bill 2017 for forwarding to the House of Assembly for approval
-
noted the 2017 Valuation Report of the Public Service Pension Plan (PSPP) which has been submitted to the House of Assembly and called for data anomalies to be resolved before the next actuarial review
-
advised His Excellency the Governor to approve conditionally Planning Application PR 12869 by Mr Crayton Dale Higgs for outline development permission and change of zoning from Low Density Residential to Tourism Related Development over Parcel 60713/351 on Providenciales in accordance with the Physical Planning Ordinance 2014 for the development of a hotel and condominium complex
-
approved a proposal by the Hon. Minister of Infrastructure, Housing and Planning to allow the Physical Planning Board, the Department of Planning and the Department of Environment and Coastal resources to suspend until 31 December 2017 the requirement for a full Environmental Impact Assessment to be carried out when considering applications for beach re-nourishment and repair of coastal infrastructure that were damaged by the recent hurricanes
-
approved a proposal by the Hon. Minister of Tourism, Environment Heritage, Culture and Gaming to suspend the requirement for a full Environmental Impact Assessment to be carried out to allow for the immediate repair of coastal infrastructure that was damaged by the recent hurricanes in readiness for the start of the main tourist season
-
received an up-date from the Hon. Premier, as Minister of Finance, on recovery projects carried out in conjunction with Carnival Corporation following Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Cabinet agreed to fund a number of island clean-up projects on the island of Grand Turk through the Carnival Infrastructure Fund
-
reviewed vacant positions across government and approved priority recruitments identified by ministries which would determine the recruitment programme for the remainder of the financial year.
Further information on these matters will be provided by Ministers in due course.