Black Immigrant Daily News

Tobago

Pan lovers jam to the music of KatzenJammers Steel Orchestra, during Pan Trinbago’s Pan and Powder event, in Scarborough, last Saturday. Photo by David Reid

PAN Trinbago president Beverly Ramsey-Moore believes the October carnival will revive community steelbands on the island.

In an interview with Newsday on Sunday during the parade of the bands in Scarborough, Ramsey-Moore said the organisation’s pan events were hugely successful.

She described Pan & Powder, held last Friday night in Scarborough, as a movie.

“The October carnival helps our bands prepare themselves. It gives Tobago steelbands an opportunity to get ready and be better prepared for the (Panorama) finals and for the carnival in Trinidad and Tobago,” Ramsey-Moore said.

“We have two carnivals. We have one in Tobago and then we have a Trinidad and Tobago carnival. And I know as a result of all of that, there will be a resurgence in community steelbands in Tobago. Bands will come alive again.”

Ramsey-Moore, manager of the Black Rock-based Katzenjammers Steel Orchestra, said the carnival provides a space for the bands to grow and prosper.

“They would not have to fight up with the big guns in Trinidad. They are going to become big guns in their own space.”

She described the carnival as “pure excitement.

“I am lost for words. I looked forward to the day when Tobagonians and Tobago could have put on a magnificent festival like Carnival.”

Ramsey-Moore said the event has the potential to positively impact the island’s economy, which was virtually decimated by the covid19 pandemic since March 2020.

“It trickles down to the smallest man. The man with the roast and boil corn, the man with the souse. Even the man who picking up the bottle on the road. That is what carnival does and it provides an opportunity for our artistes, the creative sector to bloom and blossom.”

She thanked the THA or hosting the carnival.

“The talk has been in the air for a very long time about the Tobago carnival. But this Tobago House of Assembly, I don’t know if it is because of youthful thinking, they have grasped the opportunity and I want to commend them. Things won’t be perfect for the very first time, but when they fall down they will get up – and that’s what it all about.”

Ramsey-Moore especially commended Secretary of Culture, Tourism, Antiquities and Transportation Tashia Burris and the Tobago Festivals Commission.

She said the carnival must be an annual event.

“The social and financial impact are too great to just throw away just for one day. Long live the Tobago carnival.”

Despite the large number of international travellers who visit Tobago, Ramsey-Moore said, Trinidad continues to be the island’s biggest tourist market.

“It is the closest island to us. That is the reality. Some people may not like what I am saying but we cannot do anything in Tobago without our closest neighbours coming here. So we need that kind of support.

“But we don’t need all of Trinidad to come to tell us, do it so or do it so. Through a collaborative effort sitting down together, that is what is important at this time.”

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A 41-year-old man of Norton Street, Wortmanville, Georgetown was on Monday busted with a quantity of methamphetamine in his possession.

Delon King was intercepted by officers of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) in the vicinity of the Route 48 bus park.

“A subsequent search was conducted revealing a quantity of transparent Ziploc bags containing a clear crystal-like substance suspected to be methamphetamine,” the organisation said in a statement.

The man was arrested and escorted to the CANU Headquarters where the suspected narcotics was weighed and amounted to 88.6 grams.

Investigations are ongoing.

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La police a tiré des gaz lacrymogènes pour lever certains des barrages routiers qui s’étaient multipliés mardi au Brésil, des milliers de camionneurs et de manifestants pro-Bolsonaro refusant d’accepter…

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Port Authority chairman Lyle Alexander

THE government could attract some US$200 million in private-sector investment to improve cargo handling at the Port of Port of Spain, said speakers at the launch of the Port of Port-of-Spain public-private partnership (PPP) structuring process on Monday via Zoom.

Port Authority chairman Lyle Alexander said a readiness assessment had suggested “a high potential of delivery in what we estimate to be a possible $200 million in investment in this project.”

He expected the project would increase the port’s efficiency and productivity. Alexander said the authority looked forward to a transparent tender process to select an investor.

IDB Caribbean regional manager Tariq Ali said, “This project is a game changer for TT’s economy and society.

“We present a public-private partnership with the potential to mobilise US$200 million in direct investment from the private sector.”

He said the IDB often assisted in attracting investments to projects which were “efficient, sustainable and bankable,” and in strengthening regional PPP regulatory frameworks.

Minister of Public Administration Allyson West said a recent global survey on the ease of doing business had ranked TT at a lowly position of 134 out of 190 countries for trading across borders. She said a Cabinet committee had concluded that enhanced port operations would require private capital.

West said the goals for the port were for it not to be a drain on the economy, not to hinder trading, but to facilitate the efficient movement of goods into and out of TT.

Planning Minister Pennelope Beckles said PPPs brought to the public sector more participation by the private sector which brought its knowledge, financial capacity and efficiency.

She said the region needed US$21 billion invested in its infrastructure for 2014-2025, according to the World Bank and Caribbean Development Bank.

“The American Association of Port Authorities stated that cargo activities at US ports accounted for 26 per cent of the US economy, generating nearly US$5.4 trillion in total economic activity and US$378 billion in federal, state and local taxes – a figure which is expected to increase significantly through to 2030.”

With its closeness to the US and facilities such as the Panama Canal, the Caribbean was expected to play an increasing role in global logistics, Beckles said.

The IDB’s Gastón Astesiano said each $1 invested in infrastructure brought a $2 return in extra GDP, even as the Latin America/Caribbean (LAC) region needed US$250 billion per annum to close the infrastructure gap. The IDB’s Ancor Suárez Alemán said most big ports in the region were run as PPPs. These have experienced remarkable increases in efficiency in their cargo management as PPP, averaging 20 per cent, he said.

Suárez Alemán noted that in the LAC region it takes thrice as long to process a container as in Singapore.

IDB country manager Carina Cockburn said the project aimed to increase the port’s efficiency and generate new revenue streams, and was an important project for TT’s future. She expected tendering for the PPP in early 2023, and said the IDB was committed to supporting the government to make the project a reality.

Minister of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan listed the port’s challenges as low productivity, obsolete infrastructure, and the need for public subsidies to pay operational costs.

“Since 2014 the port throughput has been steadily decreasing. Turnaround time and containerised movement rates have declined, while port equipment such as cranes are not transferring as many containers as targeted.

“In this regard the ministry looks forward to this RFP (request for proposals) attracting significant interest, resulting in a concession agreement that will benefit TT, the private partner, and the port.”

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A three-year-old dog at TTSPCA’s Tobago shelter needs a home. Photo courtesy TTSPCA

A three-year-old male dog at the Trinidad and Tobago Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ (TTSPCA) shelter in Bacolet, Tobago, is seeking a loving home for a third time.

In a Facebook post, the shelter said each time the “loving, sweet, happy dog” returned, employees were sad, but the good boy was always glad to see them again.

When Newsday contacted the shelter, workers said the dog was first relinquished to the shelter by someone who could no longer care for him.

Six months later, his previous owners decided they wanted him home again, only to return him to the shelter the next day.

A three-year-old dog at TTSPCA’s Tobago shelter needs a home. Photo courtesy TTSPCA

“(He was returned) for being too playful (as he) may cause potential injury due to falling to his elderly adoptive family,” the post explained.

Then he was adopted again by someone else, but was returned after a week because he was not aggressive towards strangers when commanded to do so. The adopter wanted a “mean, aggressive guard dog,” workers explained.

In the Facebook post, the shelter said, “A dog like this deserves so much more and should be given a fair chance.

“He is one of the sweetest dogs at the shelter. We are desperately looking for a loving home for him as he is deserving of it.”

Those interested can call the shelter at 309-0219.

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