SVG Distillers, the sole rum distillery in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, has donated EC$50,000 for the restoration of the Caratal Bridge in Georgetown.
The bridge was damaged during the floods of April 2011 and collapse during the passage of the trough system on Christmas Eve.
Export Promotion Manager and Public Relations Officer of SVG Distillers, Phillipa Greaves, handed over the cheque to Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves.
Greaves was accompanied by Chairman of the Board of Directors of SVG Distillers, Nigel Greaves.
Gonsalves expressed gratitude to SVG Distillers for their contribution.
“I want to thank the Greaves family and SVG Distillers and in particular Nigel who made the initial call for making the contribution,” Gonsalves said.
He said a project was already in place to rebuild the bridge, however, the scope of work has to be altered since the bridge is now destroyed.
Gonsalves said that in addition to vehicular traffic, the bridge is important to production.
He said it has to be reconstructed quickly to transport inputs to to the distillery in Mt. Bentick, to facilitate the transportation of Rabacca aggregates for the construction industry, and materials for the spray plane to curtail further the spread of the black sigotoka disease.
Meanwhile, Phillipa Greaves said the company is aware of the hardships of the people and as a responsible corporate citizen, it saw the need to answer the call of the people.
Nine persons died, during the passaged of the trough system that resulted in the collapse of the bridge. Three persons are also missing, and there was also extensive damage to infrastructure, housing, and agriculture.
(API)
He should thank the Greaves, he should also apologise about renderings he made in the past about them.