作者： admin

Ahead of a high-profile political rally hosted by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) next year, the Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF) has rolled out a comprehensive set of temporary traffic regulations to manage crowd movement and ensure public safety. The rally, scheduled to take place on Sunday, 4 October 2026 at St Mark’s Alston George Park in Victoria, will trigger traffic changes starting at 4 pm the same day, which will remain in place until midnight.

Multiple central thoroughfares near the event venue will face restricted access for non-resident vehicles. St David’s Street, beginning at its junction with Queen Street, will be closed to all incoming traffic, as will Diamond Street from its intersection with Heroes Square, and Haddon Smith Street from the crossroads with St David’s Street. The only exception applies to Bonair public road, which will block entry from the Queen Street intersection near the bridge exclusively for non-locals; Bonair residents will still be permitted to access the route.

To streamline what traffic will be allowed in the area, the RGPF has converted several key streets to one-way operation. Diamond Street will run solely from the Queen Street intersection toward Heroes Square, while St David’s Street will direct traffic only from Heroes Square to Queen Street. Bonair public road, stretching from the bridge near Bonair Government School, will operate exclusively in a southerly direction, and Haddon Smith Street will carry traffic one way from its junction with Diamond Street toward St David’s Street.

Strict no-parking zones have also been mapped out across the event precinct to clear travel routes. Curbs on both sides of Queen Street will be off-limits for parking. On one-way routes, the left side of every directional stretch – including Diamond Street toward Heroes Square, St David’s Street toward Queen Street, the southerly section of Bonair public road, and Haddon Smith Street toward Diamond Street – will enforce no-parking rules for the duration of the event.

Designated parking spaces have been allocated separately for different groups of attendees to avoid congestion. VIP guests, invited dignitaries, and sitting parliamentarians will be able to park along the outer perimeter of the Alston George Park playing field, as well as in the dedicated lot at the Pastoral Centre. For general members of the public attending the rally, approved parking includes the right-hand side of Diamond Street toward Heroes Square, the right-hand side of St David’s Street toward Queen Street, the playing field and basketball court at Bonair Government School, and the left-hand side of Haddon Smith Street heading toward St David’s Street.

In addition to the static rally, a parade organized as part of the NDC event is slated to kick off between 5:30 pm and 6 pm. The procession will assemble near the constituency office close to the Bonair bridge, before moving along Queen Street, turning right onto Diamond Street, making a second right turn onto Chancery Street, and finally proceeding to the Alston George Park playing field. While the parade travels along Queen Street, any vehicles coming from the direction of Sauteurs will be required to divert left onto Church Hill Road, continue along Fairfield Road, and rejoin the main route via Bonair Bridge.

The RGPF, in an official announcement released through its Office of Community Relations, has issued an apology in advance for any disruptions to regular travel that the temporary arrangements may cause, and urged all local residents, motorists and event attendees to comply with the new rules to keep the event running smoothly. Local outlet NOW Grenada noted that it does not take responsibility for third-party contributed content associated with this announcement, and provided a channel for users to report any abusive content related to the post.

As Grenada enters the final stretch before the scheduled dissolution of its sitting Parliament and the launch of a general election cycle, technical work on the 2027 national budget remains on track, according to senior finance ministry officials.

Mike Sylvester, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, confirmed that pre-budget preparations have proceeded without interruption since the process kicked off in July, aligned with a calendar formally approved by the country’s Cabinet. To date, the Fiscal Resilience Oversight Committee (FROC) has completed its review of the government’s Medium-Term Fiscal Framework, with the document already receiving Cabinet approval and being published for public access by the finance ministry.

Sylvester added that all line ministries and government departments have submitted their draft 2027 budget requests earlier this month, meeting the established timeline. The next phase of work will see the finance ministry continue tracking performance across Grenada’s core economic sectors as it drafts the full supporting documentation required for the final budget proposal.

However, the technical progress is now running up against a shifting political calendar. Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell has confirmed that the current Parliament will be dissolved on Friday, 2 October, with the official date for the next general election set to be announced just two days later on Sunday, 4 October.

Under Grenada’s Constitution, a sitting Parliament serves a five-year term unless dissolved early, and a general election must be held within three months of dissolution. This constitutional timeline has raised key questions about when the 2027 budget will move from the preparation phase to formal parliamentary presentation and approval.

Political commentator Christopher De Allie noted that overlapping election campaigning and the traditional end-of-year budget presentation window could create practical complications for government operations. “Under normal procedure, a new budget must be approved before the end of December to allow government ministries to legally draw down allocated funds starting January 1,” De Allie explained. “Without an approved budget in place, the spending authority of all government departments is restricted, limiting their ability to deliver programs and services.”

As of yet, the final timeline for the 2027 budget remains undetermined, pending confirmation of the full election schedule after Parliament is dissolved. This is not the first time the current Mitchell administration has deviated from the traditional end-of-year budget timeline: the 2025 national budget was presented in March 2025, three months later than the standard November or December presentation schedule. That delay was driven by the after-effects of Hurricane Beryl, when the government prioritized immediate disaster recovery and relief efforts over advancing the fiscal plan — a set of circumstances vastly different from the political scheduling conflict facing the 2027 budget.

For 2027, the final presentation and approval timeline will depend heavily on how the election schedule shapes up following the dissolution of Parliament. It is important to note that ongoing fiscal preparations extend beyond the 2027 budget year itself. The 2026 Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure already includes forward projections for 2027 and 2028, and the government has scheduled a return to binding fiscal rules and targets under the Fiscal Resilience Act for 2027. This means the current work on the 2027 budget forms a core component of the government’s broader medium-term fiscal strategy for the country.

For the immediate future, Sylvester said the Ministry of Finance remains focused on completing all required technical work, with the next phase of the budget process set to unfold in lockstep with Grenada’s emerging general election timeline.