Trinidad and Tobago's penchant for killing the goose

THE EDITOR: Recent events and commentary surrounding the proposed establishment of a cricket academy by the Mumbai Indians IPL team and its parent company Reliance Group have reminded me of the children’s story about the goose and the golden egg.

In TT, we seem to have a habit of killing the goose before it can even lay the golden egg.

Take the case of Sandals, a potentially lucrative project with the opportunity to significantly affect the tourism industry in Tobago, chased away due to politics, untruths and misinformation.

Unfortunately, I am seeing a similar trend with this project and being a cricket lover, player and administrator, understanding the potential benefits of this project, I am hopeful that the would-be butchers of this goose do not succeed.

A daily newspaper's editorial recommended caution at the prospect of moving forward with this project. One argument was that this should not be a priority and the focus should be on crime and social ills.

While I agree that crime should be a focus, a government should be able to pursue multiple programmes and plans at the same time.

I don’t see this as being mutually exclusive, as one must be able to, “chew gum and walk at the same time.” Further, what is a better long-term deterrent to crime than sport? As a cricket club administrator, I see it every weekend when young men have told me if they were not playing cricket with my team, they would possibly find themselves in some mischief.

If crime is the problem, then sport is part of the solution.

In that same editorial, the writer, in my opinion, incorrectly analysed the nature of the project when the comparison was made with Brian Lara Cricket Academy. What the editor did not convey is that this project is privately funded, specifically with foreign direct investment.

In fact, this may potentially be the largest foreign direct investment in sport in this country’s history. To suggest Reliance examine utilising the Brian Lara Cricket Academy (BLCA) to possibly operationalise it demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of the issues at hand and nature of both projects.

The BLCA is currently an international, ICC-certified cricket venue owned and operated by the government. While state funds can go into the operationalisation of this academy, private funds can operationalise the Mumbai Indians Academy, built to their specifications and standards.

It isn’t a case of either/or. We can have both and would that not be a better outcome for the development of cricket locally and regionally?

The comments by Dr Moonilal on this matter are both disturbing and concerning for, in my opinion, they were motivated by the same political nonsense which has driven away past investments. He not only echoes the illogical arguments of that newspaper's editorial but goes on to insult potential foreign investors who are seeking to partner with government.

The prime minister met with Akash Ambani, a director in the Reliance Group, ranked among the 50 largest companies in the world, and also chairman of Jio, the largest telecommunications company in India, and third largest in the world.

In my view Dr Moonilal's comments insulted this potential investor, referring to him as, “children of a businessman,” in an effort to underplay the importance of Dr Rowlely meeting with Mr Ambani.

What is most shocking is that Dr Moonilal called outright for the deal to be killed, advising Mr Ambani, “Leave that deal right there.”

How utterly callous, irresponsible and hypocritical for any politician to be actively discouraging foreign investment on one hand and then coming to Parliament and asking where is foreign investment on the other.

Whether out of misinformation, a lack of understanding, politics or spite, this country has lost out on many past opportunities to engage in meaningful projects to aid in our development.

The interest of a foreign investor with operations in energy, technology, telecommunications, retail and sport is something to be encouraged, not disparaged. My only hope is that citizens see the value in a partnership like this and critically analyse the arguments of those who are opposed to it, so we do not end up killing yet another goose before it can lay eggs.

VYASH NANDLAL

Couva