The Ministry of Transportation Works and Utilities will be holding an emergency meeting for all affiliated persons of the Transportation-for-Hire sector as the territory prepares for the return of cruise vessels.
This was announced by the ministry via a government commissioned bulletin on Monday August 30, which said the meeting is to discuss the return of cruise-ships to the territory after the re-opening of its seaports.
The bulletin stated, “All public transport operators and stakeholders of the Transportation-for-Hire Industry are invited to an emergency meeting on Tuesday, August 31 at 7:00 p.m. at the Eileen L. Parsons Auditorium at the H.Lavity Stoutt Community College in Paraquita Bay.”
It added, “Premier and Minister of Finance, Honourable Andrew A. Fahie, Minister for Transportation, Works and Utilities the Honourable Kye Rymer and officials from the Taxi and Livery Commission; the BVI Ports Authority; the BVI Tourist Board; and the BVI Health Services Authority will be in attendance.”
284 Media also reached out to the minister responsible Kye Rymer, who said the meeting is critical to gather the views of the stakeholders on the subject, to make informed decisions going forward.
He said, “We are in discussions with the cruise lines about coming back to the territory after the COVID spike so as a transparent government we thought it necessary to reach out to the stakeholders – the transportation operators, the vendors and all those persons in the industry – to come out hear their concerns and we can then discuss the way forward if we intend to bring back the cruise ships.”
Rymer also made it clear that all taxi operators regardless of their based location are invited to attend the meeting.
“Any taxi operator can operate at the Cruise Pier so there’s no specific or no differentiation, so this is for all taxi operators. Some are based in various places but all can operate at the Cyril Romney Cruise Pier,” Minister Rymer added.