Sea bridge to nowhere

This should involve engagement of local resources.

The situation continues to be dire. The latest area that has been highlighted has been the adverse impact the irregular service is having on industry in Tobago.

According to a report in yesterday’s Newsday, disgruntled livestock farmers are warning they will pay the price.

“We coming to Tobago, buying animals and have to keep them two days in a can because we can’t get on the boat and by the time we reach Trinidad, the animals are sick,” said Christopher “The Goat Man” Campbell. “They have been saying we’re going to get a better boat for years. Since we had the MV Panorama, they say all kinds of things wrong with it but now they bring something ten times worse. They’ve brought the Panorama’s poor, sickly great-grandmother.

It can’t take passengers, it can’t take much vehicles, it can’t take much of anything.” He said Tobago is eating contaminated food because of this crisis with transporting livestock to and from the islands.

These are serious issues and must be looked into by health authorities as well as transport officials.

They give us a glimpse of the myriad problems which a poor ferry link raises. Not only does it adversely impact on specific trades which require the transport of commodities, it also affects the overall economic health and social vitality of the island.

What does it mean when we realise that we cannot rely on the ferry service to reliably transport the dead, as reported last week by Newsday? If we are serious about being a united nation, if Trinidad and Tobago is truly a twin-island republic, then we have a duty to deal with this issue once and for all. We cannot have one part of the country cut off from the rest in this way. Because Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley hails originally from Tobago, and because the PNM is currently in power at the central government level and the Tobago House of Assembly, the expectation is high that Rowley will deliver where his predecessors — including ANR Robinson — have failed.

“Rowley needs to remember he is a Tobagonian and see that Tobago is in a crisis,” said Campbell, giving the matter a political complexion.

We know enough about the problem. We know how it affects our economic and social life. We understand how it damages commerce and tourism. We hear stakeholders complain and complain.

Yet, what are the potential solutions? The State should adopt a threepronged approach to the issue. In the first place, it should generate, using local resources, infrastructure that can support a ship-building industry which would cushion the ferry service. If ships cannot be built locally for the sea bridge, then at the very least they should be repaired and maintained locally.

There must be development of port facilities in Toco for use as the main port of disembarking. This will decentralise the flow of resources, taking it away from Portof- Spain, and allowing more even regional development. It will also reduce the sailing time between Trinidad and Tobago, making the ferry more convenient. All development and construction should be locally procured.

Secondly, the skills needed to develop, run and maintain the ferry service should be acquired and developed. The staffing of the service is as integral as its physical aspect.

Finally, there should be rationalisation with the air bridge to ensure there is a dual system allowing one segment to pick up the slack if needs be.

We are way past talking and complaining. It’s time to deal with this matter once and for all.