No white elephants, please

DAVENDRANATH Tancoo’s budget last month was a mixed bag of give and take. It was generally well-received, though the Opposition suggested the numbers had been fudged. More pertinent as a criticism, however, was the budget’s lack of a bold, transformative plan. The blueprint unveiled by the Prime Minister on November 6 remedies that. In its ambition, it is the kind of vision the country has been yearning for after years of policy drift.

A plan is a plan. Anyone can draw up a PowerPoint presentation. Jearlean John says boots could be on the ground by August 2026. The works minister is ever optimistic. Even if construction begins then, the government is asking people to look down the road to 2035. We’ve been here before. We know such loose timelines when it comes to the state are often meaningless. Meanwhile, people have needs.

Haunting Ms Persad-Bissessar’s promises this week at the Diplomatic Centre, now renamed the Delivery Centre, St Ann’s, was the ghost of Patrick Manning, whose administration built the very building she spoke in. Mr Manning’s Vision 2020 saw state agency Udecott turbocharged with a glut of public sector resources in pursuit of mega-projects that became white elephants. Many were built without thoughtful consultation, though today the resource-starved state has put all to use. Police probes into wheeling and dealing never resulted in real accountability. Worryingly, the government has resurrected the Udecott-era practice of interlocking directorships on boards, though Ms Persad-Bissessar suggests any wrongdoing or corruption will be brought to book. How?

The question is more urgent given that what the government seeks to achieve goes beyond even Mr Manning’s wildest dreams. Instead of clustered projects, entire skylines are planned, involving 129 buildings. That’s billions, if not trillions, of dollars.

According to Ms John, the public purse will not be saddled with this. Instead, the state is turning to public-private partnerships and government-to-government deals. Again, we’ve been here before. Yet, what is different this time is the fact that this week’s presentation was aimed not only at TT citizens but also at the White House and TT’s new Latin American allies, one of whom, Argentina, recently received a US$20 billion bailout from the Trump administration. Questions about geopolitics were notably skirted on Thursday.

Also unstated by the government is what concrete measures will be put in place to protect the environment, ensure local input and sustain jobs. We are also unsure of the exact timeline for component implementation. In this regard, a famous proverb is relevant: “There is only one way to eat an elephant – a bite at a time.” If the government were to break down the details of its planning more transparently, it might find it easier to get citizens on board.