St Kitts and Nevis: Minister Konris Maynard hosts the year end 2024 press conference

The annual media conference was held yesterday where St Kitts & Nevis Minister for ICT, Public Infrastructure and Energy, Konris GM Maynard spoke about the developments initiated by the administration. He was also joined by other important members of his Government including permanent secretaries, directors and stakeholders who also stated their views.

The Minister began the conference with the discussion of the road projects that the Department of Infrastructure has invested their resources in, along with key mentions of the partnership of St Kitts and Nevis with other Caribbean country for building up of new engineering projects on the island.

Rehabilitation of St Peter's and FT Williams Highway

Officials shared that the St Peter's and FT Williams highway have both been undergoing rehabilitation with the aim to improve the island’s road network and that by the end of 2025, 50 percent of the work will be done.

Minister Maynard during the press briefing stated, “As there are a handful of engineers here in St Kitts, it is amazing how they have worked to develop the infrastructure in the island especially with the limited availability of hands at work. Having said this, looking into the future growth needs, we decided to seek the help of engineers of other island nation. There have been past collaborations in the fields of medical science such as doctors and nurses coming here  but never in engineering.”

He further added, “After the collaboration the locals would not have to worry about the irrigation facilities, rain drainage system and potholes in the roads as the remodeling work will be in full swing.”

Information and Communication Technologies Development in St Kitts

In a conversation with the Director of the Department of ICT, St Kitts and Nevis, Amicia Mussenden, along with Minister Maynard, details were reveled about the Internet Exchange Point (IXP) project. 

Director Mussenden shared, “In this particular project, there will be a direct network between the internet service providers and the public through the main building of the Department of ICT. The department will act as a server data point. The work is still going on and once it gets completed, the system will turn into an intranet facility from the usual internet facility redefining the way of how the web will work here.”

She further stated, “People will benefit from this project within the country in various ways without external help. Suppose the internet cables undersea are cut due to any reason, the people and businesses within St Kitts & Nevis would be able to interact as long as they stay inside the territory of the island despite the fact that the outside world has been cut off.”

IXP Project, Education and Digital Identification Card

The IXP project will also be useful for teaching and educational purposes. The internet service will be free of cost on the whole island, helping regulate what content the children in schools would get access to, allowing the parents and teachers to restrict access from abusive and violent material available on the web and thus have some control. 

This is also a leap towards a fully digital nation. The project after becoming fully operational will help individuals to transact from the comfort of their homes doing business deals or purchasing products and services strengthening the financial situation of the country using the latest financial technologies available in the market.

There were also discussions held between Minister Konris Maynard and directors discussing the provision of internet cable services being heightened to a level that everyone gets an access to 1 Gigabyte of free data by 2030 inside St Kitts and Nevis, similar to Sweden where every individual household has access to 1 Gigabyte of Data.

A digital Identification cards are also expected to be tested from January 2025 for full deployment in the later part of the year. In addition to providing free internet services to everyone, there will also be a concentrated focus on electricity, water, education, roads and other key sectors of the island nation in the coming year.