His Excellency the Governor, Peter Beckingham, chaired the 13th meeting of Cabinet on Thursday, 21st April 2016, at the Hon. Hilly Ewing Building on Providenciales.
The Hon. Deputy Premier and the Hon. Minister of Border Control and Employment were the only two absent.
At this meeting Cabinet:
· H.E approved a review of the Trade Unions Ordinance (Chapter 17.07) with a view of undertaking the necessary consultations and providing the appropriate instructions to the Attorney General for the drafting of the amending and or new legislation deal with trade unions and the activities of trade unions generally;
· They also noted the initiation of the Electricity (Amendment) to the Ordinance on March 1st, 2016 and the effective date of the appointment of the Board commenced from April 1, 2016. Cabinet also approved the appointment of Mrs. Teresa Williams-Andrews as Secretary of the Board as per Section 2E of the Electricity (Amendment) Ordinance;
· Acknowledged was the replacement of Paul Gardiner with George Hinson as a member of the Physical Planning Appeals Board;
· Cabinet considered and approved the planning application from Fortis TCI for the relocation and placement of high voltage power transmission cables between Providenciales and North Caicos;
· H.E approved the establishment of a working group to review the Service Charge Ordinance and the practices of the hotel and restaurant industry as it relates to the application of the management of service charges within the industry. Membership shall include the Commissioner of Labour, Commissioner of Revenue, a Representative from the AG Chambers & a Representative of the TCHTA as well as three Employee Representatives. The reps are as follows – Monet Collymore (Chair), Russel Garland (Member) and Penditer Hutchinson (Member). Cabinet expressed the desire from the working group to have this work completed within the next 4-6 weeks;
· Cabinet advised the Governor to reaffirm the approval granted for a new 25 year lease to Leeside Estates over Crown Land parcels 6113/180-191, 312-340 and 343-376 inclusive, at Long Bay Hills, Providenciales, for the purpose of pursuing the development of a signature residential community for Turks and Caicos Islanders at an annual rent of $68,688.90 and 10% of the sale price of the residential parcels which were previously low-lying swamp lands;
· There was also approval for the development of a Donkey Sanctuary at parcel 10402/11 at (Over Island) as a tourism attraction to be funded through the monies appropriated in the TCIG Development Fund. Cabinet additionally agreed to work with the Donkey Welfare Committee to discuss further options to reduce the donkey population on the island of Grand Turk, as well as discussing with the Committee the proposed new Sanctuary;
· During the course of that meeting, Governor Beckingham approved the publication of a Request For Proposals (RFP) for the construction of a Police Headquarters and supporting facilities on the island of Providenciales;
· The development of a policy to assist the construction of privately owned primary and secondary roads traversed by the public was also approved;
· Finally during the cabinet meeting, amendments to the Customs (Government Transit Shed and Queen’s Warehouse Rent) Regulations under Section 19 and 66 of the Customs Ordinance to permit a waiver of storage fees for goods retained in the warehouse for more than 30 days, subject to the payment of the Duty and CPF and a reduction in the current rates by 50% for general merchandise was approved.
Further information on these matters will be provided by Ministers in a press conference to be announced.
