Tobago: A developmental dilemma

There is revived interest in seeking to have Tobago adopt a development path which will address the perception that the economy of Tobago has lagged too far behind that of Trinidad and the imbalance must be redressed. In terms of economic activity, Tobago is almost exclusively a service economy with tourism being the dominant sector. The people of Tobago, however, have high aspirations for the physical development of the island and use Trinidad as the benchmark. For example, a view that has been articulated is that Tobago should have some degree of industrialisation to diversify away from tourism and that this industrialisation could even be natural gas based. In any event, Tobago expects to share in the natural gas bounty both as part of the unitary state and as of right because there are gas fields close to Tobago. At present the revenue base of Tobago is low and the island depends on the national Treasury for funding.

The successful execution of projects in Tobago faces severe constraints in the areas of human capital, construction industry capacity, quality of infrastructure and management which can prove intractable over the medium term. A recent labour market survey by the National Training Agency, established that Tobago is in a human capital crisis. This crisis exists at the basic skills levels, including the construction industry skills where construction personnel are imported from Trinidad and other parts of the region to perform carpentry, masonry, welding, tile laying, heavy equipment operating and such duties. At a higher level, the construction industry suffers from a dearth of resident engineering personnel and professional project managers which negatively impacts the time and cost schedules on development projects. The priority in the area of human capital development is therefore to launch training programmes that will address this void. The authorities are taking initiatives to address the problems but the impact is not likely to be felt in the short term. At the professional development level, scholarships will have to be extended to Tobagonians who are prepared to return to work at home. A method of contracting these persons to avoid defaulting on commitments will have to be devised.

The contractors in Tobago generally lack the financial and equipment resources to undertake major construction works. This has been demonstrated by the fact that projects currently in progress seem to be considerably behind schedule. The short term solution of bringing in contractors and workers from Trinidad is not without problems  because of the social and political implications for the Tobago economy. Further exacerbating the contracting situation is the fact that construction materials used in Tobago are usually imported from Trinidad including sand for making concrete and plastering buildings. There are also production problems with the quarries which affect the timely supply of gravel, sharp sand and boulders all resulting in Tobago’s construction costs being 30 percent to 50 percent higher than Trinidad. In terms of the level of infrastructure, water, sewer, electricity infrastructure and traffic management capacity will present problems when relatively large scale and intensive developments proceed. These infrastructure issues are being addressed within the framework of development planning and public sector investment programming for Tobago but the time lag between plan formulation and implementation is likely to be such that building projects will inevitably precede improvement to the infrastructure thus exacerbating the situation..

The management of construction projects, especially site management, is very critical in Tobago. Experience on current projects indicate that time overruns range from 25 percent to 100 percent which inevitably lead to cost increases. Contractors require help with work programming, materials procurement, formulating strategies for enhancing productivity and applying different construction techniques. Construction management will have to be strengthened with either resident engineering personnel or through appointment of a construction management company. Apart from infrastructure projects, Tobago is undertaking an ambitious urban development programme involving the reconstruction of civic buildings in Lower Scarborough that have been disused for many years after earthquake damage.  The need to phase major construction projects is vital to the sustainability of the construction sector in Tobago since the implementation systems, with the limitations mentioned above, cannot handle a level of construction activity where several major projects are built simultaneously. Comprehensive programming is necessary and can yield additional benefits to Tobago through the opportunity for scale economies and the avoidance of conflicts, duplication of activity and overlapping responsibilities.

The views expressed in this column are not necessarily those of Guardian Life. You are invited to send your comments to guardianlife@ghl.co.tt