Saturday, November 13, 2010

More Explanations are in Order

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7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Totally agree, it is the logical thing to do.

November 13, 2010 at 7:18 PM
LuciaBoy said...

On the money Mr. Editor. I have said it once and will repeat it ad nauseam that we should not be focusing on a one shot solution to a seemingly perennial problem.
Unless we can relocate the island of St. Lucia away from the hurricane belt, we must establish the National Disaster Recovery Fund where all St. Lucians will be vested and the contributions to this fund must be ongoing. Just as workers are contributing to the pension schemes they should be making complusory cotributions of $10 or even $20 (all tax deductible) per month based on their ability.

Other creative means must also be found to encourage the business community to contribute whether it is through tax deductions.

Incentivising participation both as far as the contribution of funds and the organization of fund raising drives should be the way to go.

Investing these funds in safe, highly liquid vehicles should be encouraged. I hope that someone would take on this categorical imperative and make it a reality.

November 13, 2010 at 7:39 PM
Anonymous said...

what good would it do anyway, to have a beautified airport, when the country itself is so battered that no one would wish to come to it?
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wrong.
let tourists come through the beautiful airport and then see the battered country.

November 14, 2010 at 4:34 AM
ixi lixi said...

The proposed airport actually seemed rather sterile to me in design, whereas in my opinion the design of the existing at least on the outside made an attempt to mirror our verdant peaks. That's on aside. The PM actually said the reconstruction bill is USD 500 million or XCD 1350 million. He said that twice while addressing the Press Conference for the TT PM. Unless if he made an error, that puts the figure well over the original guestimate, and may well be another guestimate itself. I do concur that the ill-advised huge sum for the airport terminal redevelopment be shelved, so that we can concentrate on priorities. Furthermore, I have always maintained that we were better off having a first class north-south highway cutting travel time and getting visitors to their hotels a lot quicker and safer, as well as benefitting the island's development in a more impactful way than an airport terminal. Need I also mention our huge needs in the water sector?

November 14, 2010 at 7:26 PM
Anonymous said...

The suspension of the Airport project would be the prudent thing to do. At most, only a heavily scaled-down version of the project should be entertained. But this does not mean that the money earmarked for the airport project can automatically be transfered to post-Tomas reconstruction. Despite all their talk lenders are not standing in line to offer loans for post-disaster reconstruction. And we have to hope and pray that we are not visited by another Tomas for another decade at least. St. kitts and Nevis was battered by three Hurricanes in 3 successive years. That's one of the reasons why its debt-to-GDP ratio is the highest in the Caribbean, at more than 150%.

November 15, 2010 at 5:13 AM
Anonymous said...

Sir John had established a Sinking Fund (Contingency Fund) into which he unfailingly deposited at leat $1million annually for post-disaster rehabilitation and reconstruction. That money was never touched, even in hotse years when Saint Lucia was not affected. Not sure whether that practice in being continued.

The idea of a post-disaster Contingency Fund is a good one. Even a $1 contribution per month from al employed persons matched by the private sector will go a long way towards helping Saint Lucia to bounce back from hazard events.

November 15, 2010 at 5:19 AM
boyblue said...

This article and subsequent comments shows a lack of knowledge and understanding of the process or financing the airport development project and its impoetance in the the economy. Whilst the country had indeed been battered and needs rebuilding it is not time for our short sighted narrow think attitude to bulk at proceeding with plan development of the Hewanorra Int'l airport.
Lucianboy's comment of a disaster fund is logical, sensible and should be pursued as per the contingency fund started by sir John Compton - this is the vision we need in our leaders to enable us to stand tall in face of adversity and show as an independent nation we actively prepare for disasters ahead of it striking us.

November 18, 2010 at 10:57 AM

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