Sangre Grande cries Budget blank

Sangre Grande is counting its losses after the 2004-2005 Budget presentation, according to Sangre Grande Chamber of Commerce president Indra Sinanan. She said that while this year’s Budget held a lot of promises, she felt as though Sangre Grande had been overlooked. While Sinanan said she was pleased with the effort being made for upgrade works at the Sangre Grande Hospital and construction by 2006 of an enhanced health centre in the area, she still felt more could have been done for Sangre Grande. Sinanan also said the move to develop a fishing depot in Toco, as well as the extension of the Churchill Roosevelt Highway to Manzanilla through Sangre Grande, was commendable. In the same breath, however, she wondered whether this would lead to a “boycott” of Sangre Grande, as the usual traffic that passes through the area would no longer have to do so. Sinanan expressed her disappointment at the fact that apart from these measures, Sangre Grande was excluded from the Budget and wondered whether there would be an “overspill” of last year’s budget where Sangre Grande was included, but some projects were not actually implemented.

Sinanan said, however, that she was happy with the $2 billion allocated to crime, and hoped that value can be attained from the money in terms of delivery and performance. She also felt that more could be done to develop the skills of those in the Police Service and while $2 billion was enough money, there could always be greater initiative. As for food prices, the Sangre Grande Chamber of Commerce president said that while nothing could be done to prevent globalisation, Government could use certain measures to alleviate increasing prices, such as removing CET and other tariffs. She welcomed the removal of tax on certain items, and said the removal of CET would also help the chicken industry. At the same time, however, she was wary that this could cause many lay-offs in the industry. Speaking on the oil industry, Sinanan was happy that TT would finally be getting its “fair share of oil revenue.”

She explained that natural resources were being given away to foreign investors, and welcomed the proposed tax measures now being made by Government. Sinanan was also happy to see the unemployment rate drop from 10.2 percent to the current seven percent. The Budget did hold other disappointing aspects for Sinanan, who felt that while the move toward free tertiary education was a promising one, it should come on stream as soon as January 2005. Sinanan also felt that more could be done in the realm of the social sector, as “not a lot was said and done about it.” She also expressed disappointment at the fact that another year has gone by without any mention of the Uriah Butler Highway. Sinanan said, “the Government made some good decisions, yet there are some concerns.” She said the Budget debate would be of great importance to the chamber as only then would TT know how funds were being allocated to the different ministries. Newsday’s attempts to reach Member of Parliament for Sangre Grande Roger Boynes proved futile.