Tobago Chamber of Commerce president Demi John Cruikshank says he was comforted with Tobago’s allocation in yesterday’s Budget.
Speaking at a news conference at the Chamber’s head office in Scarborough following the budget presentation, Cruikshank said Tobago received additional powers through some of the initiatives highlighted by Imbert.
The Tobago House of Assembly received $2.1936 billion, which represents $1.86 billion for recurrent expenditure, $315.6 million for capital expenditure and $18 million for URP. The island will also receive $1.09b to be spent through ministries on government projects on the island, including the upgrade of the Roxborough Police Station and construction of the Moriah Fire Station and a desalination plant and expansion of the power generating capacity at Cove.
Cruickshank said Tobago would have received a larger slice of the national pie this time around
“The Tobago House of Assembly would have received a 4.34 per cent of the national budget to us, which is an upward figure in terms of what we would have normally received, which is 4.03 of the national budget. We are also pleased that the THA would have gotten some sort of ability to borrow coming into the new fiscal year and that is something that a number of Assemblies in the past would have clamoured for and it will be interesting to see how we now deal with that scenario in terms of borrowing externally, or domestically,” he said
With added commitment by the Central Government to give Tobago the clout of borrowing to complete and fund projects, Cruikshank said the THA would have to look at the wanton wastage seen over the years. He also extended an olive branch to THA Chief Secretary Kelvin Charles to meet with the Tobago Chamber to propel the island’s economy
“The Tobago House of Assembly is getting more powers, you are now getting the ability to borrow money, the legislation is before Cabinet for self-determination in Tobago, so the THA needs to come with a serious plan and sit with the business community. We are here to help the THA to execute a lot of their programmes. We have said in the past we feel that the THA is a partner with us, and we need to partner with them to move forward,” he said.
He said they were also concerned at the fuel hike since it may mean increased prices for Tobago.