PM: Trinidad and Tobago specialises in 'delay, obstruction' in development

The Prime Minister has slammed the country's slowness in treating with developmental projects, describing it as specialising in "delay and obstruction."

Speaking at the sod-turning for Nutrimix's $150 million animal and pet food plant in Pt Lisas, Dr Keith Rowley said the country urgently needed to build its non-energy sector, because existing reserves are being depleted.

However, he noted despite best efforts, some in the country don't share that urgency, particularly with the slow approval process.

"One can sometimes get the impression that some of our entities are more concerned about the process than the outcome, and could really become quite annoying.

"I can tell you, I have had in recent times to talk a lot with my colleagues at Caricom in Grenada, Barbados, St Vincent and Jamaica, where they too are after the same kinds of growth and speed and urgency that we are after.

"But for some reason, in TT, we specialise in delays and obstruction. I have seen projects in Grenada and St Vincent move with alarming speed without destroying their country and without their population believing that everybody involved in the process is a scam (artist), and therefore you have to know every page, every day, every hour, every minute."

Having returned from a Caricom meeting in Barbados days ago, Dr Rowley said he had witnessed six large hotels and an award-winning golf course under construction. He said there was also quick work in St Vincent on a Sandals Resort, one of which fell throughinTobago in 2019 owing to negative publicity. Rowley then criticised the use of the EMA Act as a weapon to obstruct developments.

"In St Vincent, a Sandals project went from, 'Yes we want to do it,' to, 'Yes, it's being done,' to completion, to operation well inside the time that we in TT talk about getting approval for a hotel. Now that Sandals project is, well under way.

"I can't finish listening to (St Vincent Prime Minister) Ralph Gonsalves in my ears about how wonderful it has been for the economy of St Vincent, and they are just about to make another $250 million expansion of that project.

"We still talking about the approvals projects in Tobago."

He said counterparts in Jamaica and Barbados said their projects did not have to undergo a two-year tidal-movement coastal survey to go forward with construction.

"Enough information is available about the island...longshore drift, so you don't have to do it every time you have to have a project. That is foolishness, not to mention an unnecessary cost to the investor. The Caribbean Sea on the coast of Tobago is no different to the Caribbean Sea on the coast of St Vincent."

Rowley said he had heard reports of people expressing an interest in investing in the country who ultimately didn't because they were afraid of the process.

He acknowledged the need for regulations, but also chalked up much of the delays to work ethics.

"We also have the culture of not doing on Friday what could be done on Monday, and not doing this week what can be done next month. That's happening all the time.

"As a result of that, you have a lot of people who are under stress beating a path to talk to somebody who they know."

Rowley said during his time as Prime Minister, many people who should have got their service earlier resorted to reaching out to his office for assistance. He said this should not be.

But he said one of the biggest culprits for the delay and obstacles is that people are not held to account at every level.

"I mentioned Jamaica, Barbados, Grenada, St Vincent: they've somehow managed to hold people accountable at every level, so they don't have to wait for people's whims and fancies.

"We need to re-examine the speed at which we provide service to investors, because those investors, at this time in our history, are required, maybe in large numbers or small volumes, where together at the end – a $20 million here, $100 million there, a $50 million there – when they all add up, that's the new economy of TT, the non-oil economy."