The Premier told this media house that he is looking forward to the commencement of the drilling of the first production well.

“The start of the drilling is a very positive sight as it signifies our plans in to action for Geothermal Energy production,” he said.

According to Parry, “We are hoping that at the end of 2011 or the start of the following year that Nevisians will begin to benefit from cheaper energy as a result of that exercise.”

The Premier went on to state that he is hoping that the upon completion of the project, enough energy will be available to share with St. Kitts.

“That will be a great boost to the economy of St. Kitts; first in the form of savings and secondly, attracting other industries that are looking for cheaper energy.”

He reminded that tourism was another of the island’s top priorities and if the name of Nevis became known worldwide, that’s the way the NIA wanted it to be.

“It’s good for us in terms of tourism, it’s good for us in terms of other investment because businesspeople know and they would look at their options and see if it makes sense to have anything to do with Nevis.

“Of course we know we are small, we have a small population, we have a small land mass and we don’t expect people are going to come here in great numbers. If they do, we are in trouble but we certainly want some quality people to come and invest on the island and it means a lot for our treasury and our employment situation,” Parry added.

The allocated site for drilling of the geothermal holes for the 10 megawatt power plant is at Spring Hill and is expected to cost an estimated EC $40 million. “Financing for the project had also been finalised,” Parry concluded.