Merger of BVIEC & W&SD approved by Cabinet- Hon Rymer
The decision to merge the BVI Electricity Company (BVIEC) and the Water and Sewerage Department (W&SD) was announced by Premier and Minister of Finance Dr the Hon Natalio D. Wheatley during the 2025 Budget Address on Monday, November 11, 2024.
Speaking during the April 30, 2025, broadcast of Virgin Islands Voice, Minister Rymer disclosed, “Today in Cabinet, we were able to accept the merger for Virgin Islands Energy and Water Cooperation; We would be moving towards bringing that legislation into the House of Assembly.”
According to Hon Rymer, although a separate water utility had been proposed in 2022 to allow for greater autonomy, “that would have been a venture that would have been costly in terms of a new start-up.” Instead, the administration, he said, has opted for a merger, citing operational and strategic synergies between water and electricity services.
“There’s a synergy between water and electricity, and this is something that has worked throughout the rest of the world,” the Minister noted. He referenced consultations with counterparts in St. Martin, saying, “I had the opportunity to speak to the director for those utilities for St. Martin, and he expressed his excitement when it comes to the delivery of water and the production of electricity there.”
Technical Consortium
The Minister used the occasion to reiterate, he is cognizant of the ongoing challenges residents face with water access and billing, offering his “sympathy to all the persons that are unable to receive water consistently.”
In order to effectively tackle the infrastructural and systemic issues at the root of the territory’s water woes, Minister Rymer disclosed that a consortium of engineers and technicians will be brought to the Virgin Islands by mid-June to conduct a comprehensive assessment.
“This would guide us as to what should be done—the number of pipes, the number of pressure management systems we should put in place—and be able to get a different result from what we’ve been seeing for the past few years,” he explained.
The Ministry, according to Hon Rymer, is prioritising urgent infrastructure repairs. “Right now, we have, based on the loan that was graciously given, a $100 million loan—we have submitted, or have a tender out, where we want to repair seven reservoirs. Those reservoirs have been leaking for quite some time, and we want to start by repairing those.”
See link to related story posted on November 12, 2024
https://www.virginislandsnewsonline.com/en/news/bviec-wsd-to-merge-in-2025/
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10 Responses to “Merger of BVIEC & W&SD approved by Cabinet- Hon Rymer”
ever so often a power outage not to mention the lack of pipe water in our communities
in 2025 and mostly talk; shameful
Either upgrade y'all systems and modernise it with our big annual budget or fix it back after y'all dig up them pipe
Town just go paved near the police station and flow done dig up them roads for wires. Mehson bviec was and telecom's y'all need to modernise y'all system this is cave man thing y'all doing for decades. Washing the tax money but guess when road contracts give out to certain people is not waste smh