TOBAGO GETS $1.3B IN BUDGET
The Tobago House of Assembly (THA) has been allocated $1.3 billion in the national Budget for the financial year 2005/2006. In his three-hour presentation of the $34 billion national Budget in Parliament yesterday, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Patrick Manning said the THA will actually have access to more than $2.3 billion to take care of the island’s affairs during the ensuing financial year. Manning, who is also Minister for Tobago Affairs, explained that the budgetary allocation of $1.3 billion is comprised of $1.1 billion for recurrent expenditure and $240.9 million for the regular development programme. Of the $240.9 million earmarked for the development programme, he said $80.7 million was allocated to the Infrastructure Development Fund. Manning added, "A further $470.9 million would be expended under various heads of expenditure for the direct benefit of the people of Tobago. Indeed, as in recent years, the $500 million capital expenditure borrowing facility for Tobago is retained in this Budget, and will be activated by the Assembly in the next fiscal year in accordance with the existing administrative arrangements," said the Prime Minister. "The people of Tobago will therefore have access to resources in excess of $2.3 billion for this fiscal year," he told Parliament. Earlier, Manning noted the growth of the tourism industry in Tobago, asserting that tourism was now to Tobago what the energy sector is to Trinidad and Tobago. He said employment in Tobago’s tourism sector had more than doubled over the past three years, from 7,000 in 2002 to some 15,000 this year. Manning said the tourism industry had now overtaken the public sector as the largest employer in Tobago, accounting for some 56 percent of the island’s workforce. "But Tobago’s achievements were not confined to the tourism sector," he stressed. According to Manning, other significant areas of achievement include the Health Promotion Clinic dealing with the problem of HIV/AIDS; the "swift and steady" response to natural disaster situations last year; and the "peaceful acquisition" of Pigeon Point Estate. At the same time, Manning commended the THA-led task force for its formulation of the Comprehensive Economic Development Plan for Tobago, which he said was in sync with the Vision 20-20 National Strategic Plan. Meanwhile, touching on the perennial vexing problem of inadequate air and sea transport between Tobago and Trinidad, the Prime Minister said the domestic air bridge must be made "more reliable," if only to assure Tobagonians that their "support (for the PNM) has not been misplaced." He added that discussions were "ongoing" with respect to the purchase of two fast ferries to adequately service the sea-bridge. Speaking with the media following the Prime Minister’s presentation, Chief Secretary of the THA, Orville London said despite the minority leader’s concerns about the amount of money allocated to Tobago, he didn’t see any reason why the THA would not be able to finance most of the projects it had in mind. He said under the recurrence, they had received 90 percent of what they had asked for, and, as far as he was concerned it was not just about the arithmetic, but more about the process by which the objective was achieved.
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"TOBAGO GETS $1.3B IN BUDGET"