An opening for return of Sandals

THE EDITOR: “A rising tide lifts all boats.” Because of the very nature of our very small island economies, Jamaican-born Sandals Resorts International would have lifted every single boat in Tobago.

Airlift, destination marketing, local infrastructure, room occupancy, service levels, local transport, tour operator, food and entertainment, agriculture, agro-processing, general commerce, employment levels, foreign exchange earnings.

I am not angry. I am incensed, upset beyond measure, disappointed beyond belief, frustrated beyond relief, at Sandals’ forced withdrawal from the Tobago project. And I am not “moving on.”

Tobagonians, especially young Tobagonians, ought to be saying to the naysayers who derailed the Sandals project – the armchair experts and political bandwagonists – that “we not takin’ dat so.”

Arthur Lok Jack, who appears to have a direct line to Sandals’ chairman, Gordon “Butch” Stewart, has given Tobago an opening. Tobagonians should ask Lok Jack to sit with an appropriate Tobago intermediary, say, the Tobago Chamber of Commerce or the Tobago Hotel and Tourism Association, and agree on a defined strategy and approach to bring Sandals back to the table, say, within a three-year timeframe. We can call it a private sector-led initiative.

In the meantime, I would like to make three points, for the record:

* For the zillionth time, the Sandals Tobago project was never proposed to be located on the No Man’s Land site.

* In 2006, Angostura Ltd was granted a Certificate of Environmental Clearance (CEC) – following an environmental impact assessment (EIA) which required consultation with the island population – by the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) for an integrated resort development including two hotels with a capacity of 700 rooms, on the Golden Grove and Buccoo Estates, the proposed site of the Sandals Tobago project.

* The Government had not yet commenced contract negotiations with Sandals for the establishment of the Tobago project, and therefore the EMA’s EIA and CEC requirements, including consultation with the island population, had not yet been triggered.

This is Tobago people business. Let us see about it.

JH CHARLES, Concordia