RESDP Progress Report

Social Development and Safeguards

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Project ARAP Upgraded to RAP

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In late May, a decision was taken by the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) of the Renewable Energy Sector Development Project (RESDP) to upgrade the project’s Abbreviated Resettlement Action Plan (ARAP) to a Resettlement Action Plan (RAP). This was necessary because it had recently been determined that more than 300 people would be impacted by the project’s activities.

The purpose of the RAP is to mitigate the negative social and economic impacts of involuntary resettlement due to the RESDP. The RAP outlines procedures and actions to properly resettle and compensate affected people, ensuring they can improve or at least restore their livelihoods. The RAP also establishes eligibility criteria, compensation rates, and assistance for relocation.

During the week of June 11-17, the PIU hosted World Bank (WB), Senior Social Safeguards Specialist, Sanjay Argarwal. Mr. Argarwal joined the PIU team to assist in the development of RAP, including undertaking several due diligence exercises such as meeting project affected persons and reviewing stakeholder files.  

Presently, PIU personnel are actively working on completing the document by the end of June. In July, a crop production and farm income loss verification exercise and census and socio-economic study of landowners will be conducted. Both exercises will provide vital information necessary for completing the RAP.    

On completion, the RAP will be sent to the World Bank for its approval and publicly disclosed for comments thereafter.  The RAP ensures compliance with relevant legal and regulatory frameworks, including international standards like the World Bank's Operational Policy 4.12. After the comments from the public disclosure have been addressed and approved final changes made, the contents of the RAP will be implemented by the staff of the PIU.

Successful Negotiations Held for Open Market Purchases of Land for the RESDP

During the months of February and March, successful negotiations were held with several landowners in Belvedere, Fond St. Jacques and Belle Plaine, Soufriere, for the open market sale of their lands to the Government of St. Lucia. Negotiations were led by the Chief Surveyor of the Survey and Mapping Division of the Department of Physical Planning and Urban Renewal with the participation of a Negotiations Team from the RESDP. Several other landowners whose lands were being purchased opted not to participate in the negotiation process, deciding instead to accept the Government’s price offer.

The lands are being purchased for the construction of well pads at the two named drilling sites. A well pad is a leveled, stable area where drilling rigs and other equipment are set up to extract geothermal fluids from the subsurface.  The location of the well pad is determined through a combination of geological, geochemical and geophysical analysis. The results of these studies conducted in southwest St. Lucia point to the existence of a geothermal resource in the area of the drilling locations.

Land is also being purchased to facilitate expansion of the temporary access road at Belvedere from its present 2 to 3.5 metres. The expansion is required to facilitate the movement of the drilling equipment and auxiliary components through the road to the drilling site at Belvedere. Besides the 1.5 metres to be purchased, landowners will also be paid for lands they contributed previously to expanding the private pedestrian passageway to a vehicular access road. The new access road will provide a fully motorable access into the community thus making entry and exit into and out of the community relatively easy. On completion, the road will be classified as public and placed under the care of the Department of Infrastructure, Ports and Transport.

Environmental Safeguards

Public Disclosure of the ESIA/ESMP Ended on 30th of May 2025

The Public Disclosure (PD) process for the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) and Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP) ended on the 30th of May 2025. PD commenced on the 10th of February and lasted for 108 days. It started with public consultations in the four main communities (Belle Plaine, Parc Estate, Belvedere/Fond St. Jacques and Saltibus). It continued with consultations with key stakeholders in the north and south of the island.

In addition to the above, the ESIA and ESMP documents were made available to the public in libraries, the ICDCs island wide, the Piton Management Area office, the Saltibus Post Office, the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College and the Fond St. Jacques Resource and Interpretative Centre, and on the RESDP and Government of Saint Lucia websites. The two  documents were also shared with the project’s international partners, including: (i) Electroconsultant (ELC) the project’s Exploration Management Consultant, (ii) the World Bank (WB) and (iii) the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), for review and comments.

During the period of PB, the RESDP-PIU received comments from the following:

• Belle Plaine community,
• Water Resources Management Agency =,
• The Regional Scientific Authority of the WB,
• ELC,
• UNESCO.

The comments, concerns and issues raised by the various sources were passed on to the ESIA/ESMP Consulting Firm, Panorama Environmental Inc., who will collate and address all remarks of the ESIA and ESMP's public disclosure activity.

The next steps will include:

• Panorama Environmental Inc.  submitting the revised  ESIA and ESMP  to the RESDP-PIU for its final review.
• RESDP-PIU forwarding the  documents  to the WB and the Development Control Authority for their final review.
• If there are no more comments from all parties, the documents will be accepted as final.
• The final ESIA and ESMP will then be published as official documents.

Technical Coordination

Pitons Management Area and Green Buffer Zone Demarcation Advances with Strong Community Focus

Significant progress has been made in the critical boundary demarcation efforts within Saint Lucia's Pitons Management Area (PMA) and the Green Buffer Zone (GBZ). All required boundary monuments for the PMA have now been successfully installed, repaired, or replaced, marking a crucial step in safeguarding this vital UNESCO World Heritage Site.

For the Green Buffer Zone, a collaborative approach has ensured a smoother process. Consensus was reached among key stakeholders to erect informative signs for the community, a decision that facilitates the survey's recommencement by removing the need to serve individual notices to landowners. This approach, coupled with ongoing public information campaigns and recent radio interviews, underscores the project's commitment to transparent communication and community engagement throughout these essential demarcation activities.