Working air bridge, sea bridge crucial

The Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce is optimistic that the island’s economy will show improvement in the next fiscal year with zanair and sea bridges working efficiently among

Immediate past chairman Demi John Cruickshank, who led a team from the Chamber for talks with Finance Secretary Joel Jack last Monday on Tobago House of Assembly’s budget estimates for 2018/2019, said:

“All in all, after all the discussions, we felt that the Tobago economy will grow in the next fiscal year. We are positive that with the sea bridge and the air bridge working properly, that the Tobago economy can bounce back, and we are all working together to at least fix this thing called the Tobago economy, because it is in nobody’s interest to have anybody be foreclosed and it is not in anybody’s interest to have people going under in Tobago.”

Cruickshank said several initiatives were agreed upon at the meeting with Jack, that must take place for business to grow on the island. He identified the issue of payments to suppliers and contractors, and said Jack assured that this would be dealt with soon.

He also said agricultural and tourism must be given special attention, and focus must also be paid to the matter of land licences and the loan guarantee programme.

“The agricultural sector is one that we felt that the THA have to put a lot of energy into in the upcoming fiscal year. We also spoke to Secretary Jack about how do we get the tourism sector moving aggressively and play a serious role, especially in the upcoming years with the Sandals project.

“We spoke about how we can get the land licences matter working for the private sector to invest in Tobago and also the loan guarantee programme. The secretary did give us his undertaking that he would make those two things a priority, so he would deal with them in a short space of time.

“He is going to report to the Chamber as to what is his finding in terms of the bottleneck with the land licence issue and ...the loan guarantee programme,” he said.

Jack will deliver the THA 2018/2019 budget on Monday, June 25 at the Assembly Chamber in Scarborough.

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"Working air bridge, sea bridge crucial"

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