Canada on Wednesday said it would provide nearly CAD$20 million to fund development projects in hurricane battered Dominica.
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development of Canada, Kamal Khera, said that Ottawa is providing CAD$9.25 million to the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) for the Dominica disaster recovery resilience project.
Restoration of schools
She said the funds will be used for the reconstruction and restoration of five primary schools making them more climate resilient.
“This will directly benefit more than 1,300 children and 80 teachers,” she said, adding that “this project will also fund Dominica’s Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility premiums for the next two years so that essential services can continue in the event of future crisis.”
The insurance project is managed by the Cayman islands-based Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility Segregated Portfolio Company (CCRIF SPC). It provides parametric insurance coverage to the Caribbean and Latin America.
Khera, who led a delegation that included the Canadian High Commissioner to Dominica, Marie Legault, said that in the wake of Hurricane Maria that struck the island on September 18th last year, killing nearly 30 people and causing millions of dollars in infrastructural losses, said Canada was also providing funding for an CAD$8.2 million project to be managed by the Barbados-based Caribbean Disaster Emergency management Agency (CDEMA).
She said the project will support the implementation of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Comprehensive Disaster Management Strategy that would help to strengthen the regional response mechanism.
