Industrialise
Tobago
By
George Allyene
Trinidad & Tobago
Newsday
Port
Spain
Petroleumworldtt.com
07 22 07
TWIST AND SHOUT: Activists have
turned this traffic stop sign into an anti-smelter
slogan by placing the words "aluminium smelters" on
it. The sign is...THE Central Government, working
in concert with the Tobago House of Assembly, should
make a determined effort to industrialise Tobago,
taking advantage of the offshore crude oil and
natural gas deposits, and move away from the present
situation in which Tobago depends to a considerable
extent on tourism.
This is not to say that tourism which is today
the principal generator of Government revenue and
personal income in Tobago should be downgraded,
but greater emphasis, however, than appears to
have been demonstrated to date should be placed
on attracting foreign investment to explore for
oil and natural gas off Tobago and the establishing
of energy and energy-based industries.
The Central Government should take advantage of
the continuing high prices for crude oil and natural
gas, in effecting a move to have Tobago become
a firm member of the world of hydrocarbons. Admittedly,
the oil and natural gas deposits off Tobago are,
reportedly, in areas which lie below relatively
deep water. But if the United Kingdom was able
to exploit, with appreciable economic returns,
its North Sea crude oil deposits, at a time when
international oil prices were considerably lower
than they are today, then the exploiting of the
energy deposits said to be off Tobago should be
an economically feasible proposition.
It
will mean, of course, that multi-national energy
companies will need to be offered incentives which
are more attractive than those currently granted
oil companies operating in areas offshore Trinidad.
The developing and pursuing of such a strategy,
while it will add value to Tobago by way of increased
employment, greater spending within the island’s
economy will mean, in addition, in the long-term,
greater revenue to the Tobago House of Assembly
and the Central Government. Ultimately, it will
add, considerably, though by way of the Central
Government, to future Tobago House of Assembly
Budgets. Care should be taken in inviting foreign
investment that there is a domestic content as
well in any such enterprise.
Politically
inspired “cognoscenti” and
others have been parroting that the country’s
petroleum reserves will be exhausted within 15
or so years. They will, probably, revise their
figures if appreciable deposits of crude oil are
won off Tobago. The contributing of any gas and
oil, found and won, to the economy of the unitary
State of Trinidad and Tobago should not be viewed
as limited to dollar returns, but, as I stated
earlier, as embracing the purchase of goods and
services and the stimulating of additional and
upgraded employment.
There will be an expansion of expenditure in the
public and private sector as a result of revenue
and personal income growth which could not possibly
be matched by tourism. There will be an explosion
of demand for skills by young and not so young
Tobagonians which will need to be met by the National
Energy Skills Centre, the University of Trinidad
and Tobago and the St Augustine campus of the University
of the West Indies. This will include a demand
also for specialist skills at the professional
level and for management skills. In turn, enterprising
individuals will be able to establish small and/or
medium- sized companies and seek sub contracts
from larger companies, both domestic and foreign.
In addition, growing out of the anticipated increased
money being turned around within the economy and
a heightened interest in skills, development and
entrepreneurship, there can be a return to farming
on an economically feasible scale for the first
time since Tobago, which in earlier years before
hurricane Flora, crippled most of its farms and
interrupted farming there, both physically and
psychologically. Indeed, prior to Flora, Tobago
was not only self sufficient in ground provisions
and other farm produce, but exported foodstuff
to Trinidad. Today, it imports a sizeable amount
of the ground provisions, among other things, which
its residents consume.
Ironically, the end result of all these contributory
factors to the development of Tobago will be the
expansion of the tourism industry. In this new
dispensation, however, tourism will enjoy not the
dominant role it does today, but rather a supporting
role. It will still be a major source of employment,
but it will not be the highest income earner overall.
There is a fickle content in tourism that can be
troubling.
Meanwhile, Government should put in place systems
for the strengthening of tourism in Tobago which
would include seeking to attract high end tourists
as well and the subsidising of promotional campaigns
by the clearly above average hotels. In turn, it
should develop and effect a new economic strategy,
or perhaps the phrasing should be energy strategy,
for Tobago, in addition to a financial services
tactical campaign which would put the brother isle
on a sound footing for generations to come, even
after crude oil and natural gas reserves are exhausted.
Trinidad
& Tobago Newsday
Wednesday, July 18 2007
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©2007 Daily News Limited . All Rights Reserved.
