Concerns about Tobago

THE news from Tobago, according to the reports of officials facing the Land and Infrastructure Joint Select Committee (JSC) virtually on Wednesday, is not good at all.

According to Dr Ellis Burris, technical adviser to the THA's Division of Infrastructure, Quarries and Urban Development, the division faces serious human resource deficiencies, including critical field roles like engineers and site supervisors.

Retired public servants are leaving behind long-term vacancies. Old and inadequate equipment must be replaced. Meanwhile, landslips have increased eightfold between 2020 and 2022, with 408 recorded last year.

Kevon Trestrail, a specialist civil engineer with the division told the JSC that unplanned development is a factor to the increase in landslips.

The recent dispute between the Prime Minister and Chief Secretary over the lack of a chief administrator remains a serious governance issue for the THA. Although an acting chief administrator was appointed last Monday, did the prior absence of this critical accounting authority contribute to the inability of the Tobago Festivals Commission to pay an outstanding $6.4 million to the suppliers and stakeholders who provided services for the Tobago Jazz Experience?

Three months after the event, which earned less than half its $12 million budget (most of which was underwritten by the Government), many professionals who worked on it haven't been paid.

Soon after his appointment, the Chief Secretary called for some honest discussion with CAL about the real cost of travel on the airbridge and what is necessary to improve the service.

In September 2022 the cost of a one-way ticket between the islands increased by $50 to $200. That's less than half of CAL's estimated cost to operate the service. Fifty dollars hasn't delivered any improvement to anyone travelling between the islands by air. The chaos at peak travel times remains the status quo.

The sitting THA administration has repeatedly made procedural errors on its infrastructure projects, beginning its governance by ignoring the requirement for a certificate of environmental clearance for a notorious and largely unnecessary stage by the sea. Sketchy arrangements with contractors to build roads, dubious due diligence and an unseemly haste in trying to get critical projects underway without the kind of planning and review that ensures lasting infrastructure have proven to be an early hallmark of the administration of the Chief Secretary.

The unseemly and still unresolved squabbles with the Prime Minister do not herald a productive and seamless future relationship between the THA and the Government.

The THA's ambitions include a major revitalisation of Scarborough, and accusations that the Government is "weaponising state institutions against the people of Tobago" won't move a big project that requires administrative collaboration forward.

Far from creating the foundation for expanded autonomy for Tobago, the THA's current approach suggests that the island's administration needs an adult chaperone until it matures into the role expected of it.