The country, which witnessed many natural disasters over the years, is now focusing on building a resilient infrastructure capable of withstanding a natural- calamity, including category five hurricanes.
The Commonwealth of Dominica, popularly known as the Nature Isle of the Caribbean, is a small island with beautiful, mesmerizing, and stunning nature gems. The Caribbean island has witnessed several startling natural calamities, including Hurricanes and Tropical Storms.
Despite being a small island country with a population of about 70,000, Dominica is at the forefront of the war against climate change. After Hurricane Maria made landfall in Dominica in 2017 and affected around 90 percent of the infrastructure, Prime Minister Dr. Roosevelt Skerrit vowed to rebuild the country as the "world's first climate-resilient nation".
Since then, the government of Dominica has been working relentlessly to build climate-resilient infrastructures, including schools, houses, hospitals, health care centres, and shelters. The revolutionary "Housing Initiative" has been delivering climate-resilient homes to people displaced because of Tropical Erika and Hurricane Maria in 2015 and 2017 respectively.
The housing units have been developed in the various regions of the Caribbean country, including Cotton Hill, Georgetown, Jimmit, Roseau City Square, Bellevue Chopin, Castle Bruce, San Sauveur, Grand Fond, La Plaine, and Delices. At the same time, several housing units are still under construction in some areas such as Scotts Head, Eggleston, Canefield, Marigot, as well as Plat Ma Pierre.
Reportedly, the government has handed over the keys to about 1,500 families over the period of four (4) years, to the families who were displaced because of Hurricane Maria.
The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Reginald Austrie, congratulated and praised the efforts of the government for such development initiatives and massive investment into the housing sector.
Recently, the government of Dominica announced that an integrated community will be constructed in the Grand Bay constituency. The newly announced Grand Bay Ville Housing Development will be a master-planned concept. The housing unit will witness more than 100 standalone houses and 29 empty plots. The majority of the housing units will have three bedrooms, two toilets, and bathrooms, a kitchen with a dining room, a living room, a laundry area, as well as a porch.
The project has been undertaken by MMCE Development Ltd. Besides this, sixteen more homes are planned for Eggleston.
Earlier, in February 2022, the Salybia constituency saw the beginning of the construction of around 40 houses. The government has announced that these 40 houses will have the capacity to bear the devastating impacts caused by hurricane-force winds and seismic activities.
Meanwhile, in mid-2021, the residents of Dominica were informed about the building of around seven housing units in Marigot. The units are under-construction and soon will be handed over to the families.
While announcing the project, Gregory Riviere -Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance, Economic Affairs and Planning, stated that more than thirty residents of Marigot would benefit from the new homes upon completion of these housing units.
The housing units will feature three bedrooms, one living room, a kitchen, a bathroom, and toilet facilities.
The government of Dominica has been following the newly adopted "Disaster Resilience Strategy", which promises to provide a comprehensive plan. As per the government, the cost of funding the interventions outlined in the Disaster Resilience Strategy (DRS) is approximately US$2.8 billion.
The construction of the climate-resilient housing units has been partly or completely funded by the Citizenship by Investment Programme of Dominica.
The CBI Programme of Dominica is one of the longest-running, fastest, and most secure in the world. The programme has been top-ranked for five consecutive years by the CBI Index, published by the Financial Times' Professional Wealth Management (PWM) magazine.
The beautiful nation of the Caribbean was completely devastated after the category five hurricane, Hurricane Maria. The natural disaster disturbed the livelihoods of around 90 percent of the population. After Hurricane Maria, Dominica was torn apart in the span of a single night.
Following the catastrophe caused by the hurricane, PM Skerrit pledged to build the climate-resilient nation, and soon after, the Climate Execution Agency for Dominica (CREAD) was created. In May 2020, the Cabinet of Dominica approved the Disaster Resilience Strategy as an Annex to the Climate Resilience and Recovery Plan (CRRP).
