I listened briefly on TV to a statement of a fledgling political party from Tobago that is not involved in the current elections which was postulating that there should be three parliaments in T&T: one for Tobago, another for Trinidad and a Federal Parliament; the last to look after the supranational affairs of both islands. Little regard was paid to the attendant administrative costs to govern a mere 1.3 million people.
This stratification would allow Tobago to exploit its own petroleum resources, attract foreign investment, build its own infrastructure, its own ports and be in complete charge of its own internal and external transportation. In other words, Tobago would directly exploit the petroleum resources in its "territorial" waters and in so doing manage its own fiscal business and economy.
It is worth noting that in Tobago some 122 years ago, the economy collapsed because it could not attract foreign investment in agriculture and since then it has been dependent on Trinidad's more vibrant economy (Trinidad Business Guardian January 17). Trinidad's more vibrant economy today depends exclusively on foreign investment in exploiting T&T's energy resources.
Hence it is a no-brainer that some in Tobago can envisage economic vibrancy if Tobago were able to exploit its own energy resources. In other words if Tobago were in control of its own petroleum plantation then its economy would be vibrant. Some of this thinking is included in the present request for Tobago to have its own 200 mile territorial waters' limit.
What if (and the probability is very high) that either there is no more petroleum in the waters around this country including Tobago or the cost of exploiting and producing any petroleum that is there (all the easy-to-exploit oil/gas is done) leaves us with minimum returns? Note that up to 80 per cent of the proceeds from the new blocks can go to the expenses of the contractor in the new production sharing contracts.
Whatever happens, the situation is that both islands have to diversify their economies. Optimum diversification today calls for the interlinkages and integration (not separation) of our two economies. This will take large and sustained investment over a significant length of time.
Tourism cannot provide the high paying jobs that Tobago needs to keep its bright people at home and the petroleum plantation is not labour intensive. The little labour it requires is highly skilled and ring fenced.
Surely then, the individual planners in Tobago and Trinidad should get above the petty desires to bask in the rents and taxes from energy, recognise the importance of economic diversification and more so the benefits of integrating the two economies now that we are in the evening of the petroleum plantation economy.
Mary King
maryking@tstt.net.tt
