St. George's, December 13, 2011 - The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has approved a loan of more than US$8 million to the government of Grenada to undertake major infrastructural improvement work in St. John and St. Mark. It is expected that the project implementation cycle, which includes engineering design as well as the necessary social and environmental impact assessments, will commence in the first half of next year. The US$8.612M loan was approved at the December 8 meeting of the CDB Board of Directors in Bridgetown, Barbados. Grenada's Director on the CDB's Board is Mr. Mervin Haynes, Director of Economic and Technical Cooperation in the Ministry of Finance. "We are grateful to the CDB for its assistance which, first and foremost, would be allocated to the critical work to be done in St. John and St. Mark, while simultaneously opening up job opportunities for people in the two west coast parishes,'' said Environment Minister Hon. Joseph Gilbert. The request for the CDB loan was made in the immediate aftermath of the natural disaster which struck St. John and St. Mark in April this year. Both parishes suffered massive flooding and landslides as a result of unseasonal torrential rain. The extent of devastation was such that Prime Minister, Hon. Tillman Thomas, officially declared both communities as "localized disaster areas. The town of Gouyave was most severely affected. The river which passes through de' Lance broke its banks for the first time in living memory. Most of de' Lance was flooded, causing severe damage to property. Mr. Gilbert, who was Minister of Works at the time of the rainstorm and flooding, marshaled temporary remedial and clean-up operations. He was also instrumental in preparing the "Damage Assessment Report'' that was included in an application for funding to the CDB. "I am delighted that funds would now be available to undertake proposed adaptation and mitigation measures in the affected areas,'' Minister Gilbert said in a comment on the approval of the CDB loan to Grenada. "These measures would include reconstruction of the Middle River Bridge, and construction of levies to prevent the river from flooding its banks in the area between the Hubble and de' Lance Bridges,'' added Mr. Gilbert, who is also Minister of Foreign Trade and Export Development. Among other components of the project are infrastructure work for a new housing settlement to relocate the most vulnerable living along the river banks; rehabilitation of the fishermen slipway in St. Mark; and slope stabilization work on 10 sites in St. Mark and St. John.