Of immediate concern to the public is the location of the Immigration Office, which in recent months, had to undergo closures to facilitate the improvement of the poor air quality. Poyotte disclosed that alternative accommodations - on Cadet Street, Castries - have been identified and are currently being prepped for the Office’s relocation. This will cause Saint Lucians to head some hundred yards in the opposite direction from Bridge Street to the new location. One major concern for the government, she highlighted, is the air quality of the new building. Many tests, she revealed, have been done to ensure the air quality is up to par.

 “The Immigration Department: we have completed the retrofitting and to be on the safe side, we have taken an air quality test. It takes about two weeks before the results are released. We should be getting the results soon. We have already organised all what [employees] need for the move and an agency was contracted to facilitate that. As a result, we should expect to see this relocation happening shortly,” Poyotte told the media. 

The Minister also announced that following the completion of works at the Orange Grove Plaza. While she admitted that the government is still deciding which ministries will be housed at the Plaza in Bois D’Orange, the decision-making process has already started.

 “[The contractor] has completed the construction and the government has to do the retrofitting for us to use the space. We are still in discussion as to which ministries will occupy that space, as well as other agencies. We have two floors, the first and second floor. These two floors will be owned by the government after we pay it off. So right now, we have completed the exercise, the contractor has completed the construction up to where he has to and government will complete the rest,” Poyotte explained.

The Plaza, once known as the Daher Mall, belonged to the government of Saint Lucia when the day’s Tourism Minister Allen Chastanet oversaw the purchase of the building for over $36 million in 2006. The government has since paid over $45 million in loan repayments on the purchase of the building. In 2020, the Chastanet-led administration sold the building to Orange Grove Plaza Ltd. for $13.5 million, incurring a loss of over $30 million. At present, the government is in a lease agreement with the Plaza to rent portions of the building for $3.7 million a year, for 15 years. The government will have to pay $56.4 million in rental fees for a building it once bought for less money.