UWI presents position paper on Caroni

The University of the West Indies has presented its position paper entitled “The Caroni Transformation Process” to the Minister of Agriculture, Lands and Marine Resources, John Rahael.

The paper’s objective is to present a framework which may be used to develop the lands of Caroni (1975) Limited. It is a response to calls from members of the public who attended a seminar on “Caroni Lands: Sustainable Develop-ment” at the St Augustine Campus on April 27. Members called on the university to declare a position on the Caroni Transformation Process. The university in turn solicited contributions from over 50 persons, both from the campus and the wider public. The main idea of the position paper is that the Caroni lands — comprising in all, acreage greater than the land mass of Tobago — should be used in the national interest to support and secure the institutional, human and ecological resources of TT.  To this end, the Paper outlines a number of principles, guidelines and recommendations which are geared at guiding the transformation process on the Caroni lands. It outlines the following recommendations:
1. That the Government move immediately to prepare and publish a comprehensive plan detailing how it intends to restructure Caroni (1975) Ltd.
2. That the Government take urgent steps to convene a national consultation on the Caroni resources and on the published plan.
3. That, in respect of the use of Caroni lands, any departure from the National Physical Development plan — the substantive legal document framed to govern land use in TT — must be done through the legally stipulated process, which includes bringing amendments to this plan before Parliament.
4. That all conditions for the lease and tenure of the Caroni lands be detailed to the public in a published document to meet the requirements of transparency.
5. That the Government immediately establish a mechanism for consultation and information gathering with the Caroni workers in order to determine their skills, experience, intentions, dispositions so that a detailed and authentic skills bank will be created and that their determinations are taken into account in the transformation processes so that they may have the choices of how they may be integrated in future planned enterprises.
6. That the State establish an independent Screening Committee to stringently screen potential investors who seek Caroni lands as their location of business.
7. That the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Marine Resources establish an independent Authority charged with the implementation of plans for agriculture and agriculture-related industries.
8. That the Government establish a comprehensive system of water control on the Caroni lands, in order to facilitate irrigation, as an essential pre-condition for the establishment of agricultural enterprise on the Caroni lands.
9. That the Government establish a lease income funding enterprise system and embark upon a comprehensive joint funding venture with companies in the heavy industrial sector, in order to fund national platforms for development, such as the ones proposed by the position paper such as the botanical plan, a food park plan and a buffalo reconstruction plan among others.