Est.2007

Barbados Underground

Bringing News and Opinions to the People

A Multiplicity Of Concerns

← Back

Your message to the BLOGMASTER was sent

CONTACT THE BLOGMASTER ONLY

Submitted by M*M*

Prime Minister Freundel Stuart (ag)

Major Water Outage in Barbados on September 9th and 10th, 2010 and lack of sense of critical urgency by the Barbados Water Authority

Last week Thursday and Friday, we witnessed a major 2 day water outage in areas of St. Michael and Christ Church which affected numerous residents, businesses and schools amongst others in the affected area. Children were unable to attend school, people were unable to go to work and do their business (just ask the hotels who were hosting athletes and officials from the boxing tournament) and many businesses were unable to operate effectively. It was during a period of heavy rainfall and flooding in some areas…water, water everywhere yet not a drop to drink!

What has me puzzled is that after a 60% increase in water rates in 2009 (which we were told was to retool the BWA in terms of mains replacement program etc.), a visit and “reading of the riot act” by Prime Minister Thompson, the creation of and installation of an Executive Chairman in former Senator Arni Walters that there has been little improvement at the level of service delivery at the Barbados Water Authority. This is borne out by the numerous calls and complaints to the call-in programs and letters to the editor in our daily newspapers. After one burst was fixed, we were told that another one soon developed because of the pressure from turning back on the water too soon. Yes the mains are old – but wasn’t the 60% increase in water rates supposed to address this? If not, what is the increase being used to finance? This is unacceptable and the Barbados Water Authority is treating its customers in contempt.

We need the Barbados Water Authority (and the Minister responsible Dr Denis Lowe) to be accountable to the people of Barbados. The supply of water is an essential service – water is essential to life. My solution, if it were up to me, allow the Barbados Water Authority to come under the ambit of the Fair Trading Commission as soon as possible. This way it will be held to the same standards as the electric and telephone utility or face the adverse consequences of severe monetary (or other) penalties for poor service!!!!

CLICO BBD$314 Million Proposed Rescue by Government of Barbados


In light of the article published about Government’s proposed solution to depositors (of the EFPA) in CLICO Life to the value of BBD$314 million, I have a couple of questions.

Why is it that CLICO Life agents still sold this “investment” if the Office of Supervisor of Insurance said that it was not allowed? Are the CLICO Life agents to be held responsible for this act of selling the policies to numerous companies and organisations such as BARP (Barbados Association of Retired Persons) How will entities such as these recoup their monies if not covered by the proposed rescue plan of the Government? Will they have to sue CLICO Life for selling the EFPA without the Supervisor of Insurance’s approval or do they have to sue the Supervisor of Insurance for negligence in regulation and monitoring of CLICO Life? If this were the United States, some executive of that company would have already been facing jail time and the head of the regulatory body been facing a Congressional panel prior to being dismissed!!!!!!

This is significant as it encompasses not only Barbados, but many islands in the OECS region where their national pension funds and private pension funds have invested in this product.

Another factor to consider is the interest of 2% being offered under the proposed rescue plan is below the minimum savings rate. The least that should have been offered is the 2.5% Minimum savings rate. Many of these EFPA’s are held by retired persons who rely on the interest on this product to support their everyday living expenses. No doubt they will be placed in a position of undue burden and hardship  with the reduced interest income.

I welcome some further disclosure and information on this proposed rescue plan for CLICO Life

Recent Discussion on Proposal to Allow Casino Gambling by Cruise Ships docked in the Bridgetown Port

The issue of casino gambling is once again rearing its head in Barbados. The Prime Minister, the Minister for Transport and officials of the Barbados Port have all referred to it. Their argument is to allow cruise ships to be open for casino gambling while docked in the port as a means of earning much needed revenues and foreign exchange. I do not agree with this proposal.

Will it create jobs? Highly unlikely, the cruise ship staff will man the on board casino – not Barbadians. Another factor to consider is that cruise ships aren’t permanently in port, they leave after visiting for the day. Some of them do not even have weekly or bi-weekly itineraries including Barbados. Will tax inspectors be placed on cruise ships while they are in port to monitor the winnings of these transient cruisers in order to determine and collect the withholding taxes payable on winnings before they depart Barbados’s jurisdiction and it becomes more difficult to collect? At a time when the government is looking to reduce its current expenditure, this sounds like an increase in overtime payment for this extra duty.

To use the Bajan phrase “one-one blow does kill de old cow”, we are being faced with more and more gambling in this Barbadian society. Is this morally right? Should we sell our souls for the almighty dollar? What ever happened to good old hard-work. We have it emblazoned in our national motto of pride and industry but where is our pride? And are we showing any industry?

Do we recall the Barbados Turf Club and the $19 million in taxes from gambling that was supposed to be paid into the government but was written off in December 2008? These funds were effectively used for working capital by that organisation and they were unable to pay over the taxes collected from gambling (it would be remiss of me to say that over the years the Barbados Turf Club simply refused to pay over those taxes and allowed it to accumulate to the level it did before seeking a writeoff – certainly not those fine outstanding citizens of the BTC)

I think instead it would be more beneficial to Barbados if we focus on converting the cruise ship passenger to a longstay visitor as they have a higher spending level and is of more value to employment creation and sustenance in this country.

We often have great ideas in Barbados (remember the cellphone tax of the 2008 Budget) but there is usually a problem with implementation. I hope this isn’t the case with the proposal being considered for casino gambling on cruise ships while docked in the Bridgetown Port.

Is the award and allocation of NHC contracts the economic enfranchisement that was promised to the small contractors of Barbados


I have been sitting over the past couple weeks as this pot bubbled over on the former NHC Chairman’s allegations about the NHC/CLICO Constant affair and her dismissal and the non-disclosure by the Minister for Housing. Several questions have come to my mind. Why is the NHC purchasing prefab houses from construction companies when the prefab method of building does not employ our many skilled Barbadian artisans such as masons, carpenters, plumbers, tilers and cupboard makers who may be out of work at this time?

As a matter of fact, when the current government was on the campaign trail, and during the Prime Minister’s 2008 Budget speech, it was on the premise that 40% of all government procurement should go to small contractors and small businesses since they stimulate greater levels of employment in this country. Do we see this occurring in the NHC allocation of building works? Definitely not!!!! The argument being laid by the Minister responsible for Housing is that the small contractors do not have the wherewithal to finance the works given that the NHC is technically bankrupt. This is merely a red herring because once any financial institution can see evidence that the small contractor has been awarded a contract by the NHC, an agency of Government, funded by tax revenues and the Consolidated Fund, then they would be more than willing to advance the funds for the small contractor to begin work.

At this juncture, some small and medium sized contractors have already folded operations and many have been forced to lay off staff. In the meantime, the NHC projects are being built by large construction concerns via the prefab method which wouldn’t employ nearly as much Barbadians than traditional small contractors would. This could be significant in terms of prolonging unemployment in this country if allowed to continue. There is plenty profit markup that can be gained to contractors using the prefab housing method but what if this house construction work could be spread amongst a greater number of small contractors as opposed to one or two related companies owned by the same small group of people  involved in the building of prefab houses. We all know the value of the construction sector to Barbados’s economy. Just look at recent Central Bank reports. Its  contribution to the economy is really missed when it slows down and is non-existent.

Is this economic enfranchisements of the masses or what Dennis Kellman MP calls empowering and catering to the needs of the “too few”. What about the thrust towards entrepreneurship that is being touted by Minister Todd and Minister Estwick as the plank for employment creation in Barbados given that the ability of the Government to create jobs in the public service is limited? I trust that you will use your good offices as journalists to look into this matter

Discover more from Barbados Underground

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

19 responses to “A Multiplicity Of Concerns”

  1. David Avatar
    David

    A project to mobilize changing ‘mains’ will take time no?

  2. Carson C. Cadogan Avatar
    Carson C. Cadogan

    The water outage was a major problem. It caused hotels a lot of loss business.

    The island is hosting the world female boxing championship. Most of the teams were staying at a particular South Coast Hotel. As a result of no water all the teams checked out of the Hotel leading to huge financial losses for the Hotel. The President of AIBA was livid about the no water situation. The Govenor of the Trinidad Central Bank who was staying at the same hotel was also upset about the situation.

    Citizens were of the opinion that the burst pipes were being fixed by the BWA with no sense of urgency.

    A lot of bad blood has been created with overseas tourism partners as a result of the situation. The Minister of Tourism has a lot of damage control to do.

  3. KISSMYA Avatar
    KISSMYA

    my water bill has gone up by more than 4 times what I used to pay thats over 400%. The amount of water used remains the same as it has been over the years–DAMNED THE DLP

    DLP DOOMED !
    DOOMED DLP
    ONE TERM IS TOO MUCH
    ONE TERM IS TOO MUCH
    ONE TERM IS TOO MUCH

  4. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Submitted by M*M*
    mmmmm. no it can’t be. She don’t believe in de freedom of bloggin.

  5. I-Anon Avatar
    I-Anon

    there is a poll commissioned by the Nation to be released on Sunday. Wpord is the DLP is headed fro a defeat at the next elections, but Owen woudl have to be the one to lead the BLP because his popularity resonates within DLP and BLP.

    After Thompson dies, the DLP will have no one to hold onto.

  6. vexxed Avatar
    vexxed

    The outage in the area where the boxers are/were staying started on Wednesday night– the pressure dropped significantly. Thursday and Friday absolutely no water. Saturday late morning it came back slowly. Back to normal pressure Saturday night. It was pure torture. The thing is though that there are Barbadians that are forced by the BWA’s incompetency to live under these conditions all of the time!!! Those with the means have installed potable water tanks with pumps to deal with these regular occurrences. I know enough people up and down the south coast to piece together what the media wasn’t saying– there was no water from the Garrison all the way up to Enterprise. OUTRAGEOUS!!!!

  7. Nationalist Avatar
    Nationalist

    All of the South Coast hotels cannot complain,as I saw a BWA water tanker off loading at one of the major hotels.
    Buts why do these hotels not have an emergency water supply, like the one hotel whose manager said had enough water to see him through a few days.
    I wonder which hotel the boxers were staying at. Could this be the hotel that BWA was replenishing

  8. Carson C. Cadogan Avatar
    Carson C. Cadogan

    That hotel has almost two dozen very large water tanks. The problem was that hotel was experiencing almost one hundred percent occupancy! The demand at the hotel for water was very great.

  9. The People's Democratic Congress Avatar
    The People’s Democratic Congress

    “Is this economic enfranchisements of the masses or what Dennis Kellman MP calls empowering and catering to the needs of the “too few”. What about the thrust towards entrepreneurship that is being touted by Minister Todd and Minister Estwick as the plank for employment creation in Barbados given that the ability of the Government to create jobs in the public service is limited? I trust that you will use your good offices as journalists to look into this matter” – taken from the above lead thread.

    We wish to raise a couple points with regard to the above cited comments.

    First of all, there is no such thing as econmic enfranchisement.

    So, perish that thought.

    Economics is the inverted political ideology, philosophy and psychology of the caucasian human beings, and has been used over the years by them to help oppress exploit many of their own and other non-caucasian peoples of this world, whilst at the same time it has been helping them to accumulate great amount of wealth and income, sufficient that they are able to dominate the affairs of this world.

    The only type of enfranchisement is social political enfranchisement.

    Enfranchisement in a country means the state of giving clearly defined political rights to a sector of people in cases where they were not available before, in order to bring the beneficiaries on par with others who had such rights before – the state of the taking of a set of clearly defined political rights from one set of people and the giving of those same rights to another set of people – the political liberation of a sector of people from the bondage of another set of people.

    So, what economic enfranchisement what!!!

    Have the masses and the middle classes got each and every one of the same political rights – on the whole – as the elites/government of Barbados over the capacity to acquire material and financial wealth in the country?? NO

    Have the masses and middle classes been given any clearly defined political rights in respect of earning much/more money for themselves producing allocating much/ more income goods and services for themselves – which they did not have previously – but that were once those of the elites/the government, and which do not any longer now belong to the elites/government? NO

    Have the masses and middle classes been freed from most of the bondages that the elites and government have them in in the material production and distribution spheres of the country?? from most of the bondages of the many of the wider international political economic financial orders??NO

    There are clear differences between entrepreneurship and employment in the same context. They are not the same thing. Being an entrepreneur in itself is not part of any employment creation in a country, even though of itself it assists in employment creation.

    Whereas, yes, the entrepreneur can employ workers, the entrepreneur is not a worker in the same context. Also, workers cannot employ entrepreneurs in the same environment either. Neither are entrepreneurs self-employed in any context, since they are owners of capital machinery, riskers of capital machinery. Furthermore, nobody is self-employed since employment is a social political financial imposition by some people – some entrepreneurs too – on many others – but which however is some how agreed with at first for as long as possible between both sides. Part of this imposition speaks to the political exploitation by means of work by the relevant entrepreneurs of the workers. Therefore, it is clear that one cannot exploit oneself. So there is no such thing as self-employment. Non-sense.

    PDC

  10. David Avatar
    David

    Didn’t Minister Stephen Lashley report to the public last week that he dealt with matter of no water to the satisfaction of all?

  11. Crusoe Avatar
    Crusoe

    @I-ANON”there is a poll commissioned by the Nation to be released on Sunday”

    Oh please, we know, if there is a poll, who commissioned it and instructed its release.

    Pollums schmollums. Alla de parties tekking the money and blowing it on ,,,t.

  12. David Avatar
    David

    The following note was received by BU. Perhaps its veracity can be determined in further discussion:

    The BWA is out of control.

    After the raise in water prices it is planning a
    new headquarters which will be far and away more luxurious
    than any equivalent private sector building. Two fountains!
    Maybe that’s just to show us all how to use water more
    efficiently.

    Probably the most hypocritical thing is that as the
    Government body charged with providing us with water and
    dealing with sewage they are about to submit a development
    for Town and Country Planning approval which (under
    instruction) does not provide a sewage treatment plant.

    This is a body which should be trying to shift developers
    away from pumping sewage into suckwells from which faeces
    can enter our drinking water aquifer. What sort of example
    is that?

  13. Donald Duck Esq Avatar
    Donald Duck Esq

    All my fellow Ducks were left without water. We did not even see a truck from the Water authority. The same authoirty assumed that people like us had radios to listen in all day to hear when it was being turned on. They could have sent around a car with a loud speaker saying when it would be back on. What about a cusotmer charter for the BWA???

  14. Donald Duck Esq Avatar
    Donald Duck Esq

    Arni walters and denis lowe should be fired. Then again who is there to fire them???

  15. The People's Democratic Congress Avatar
    The People’s Democratic Congress

    “We often have great ideas in Barbados (remember the cellphone tax of the 2008 Budget) but there is usually a problem with implementation.”- taken from the above lead thread.

    To suggest that this cell phone tax idea was a great idea coming out of Barbados, is folly at its worse, and does show the levels of thinking to which many of us descend in this country.

    There is NOTHING ABSOLUTELY, NOTHING ABSOLUTELY such as a Cell Phone TAX, Road TAXES, Land TAXES, Environmental LEVIES, Stamp DUTIES Import DUTIES, VAT, NIS, Bicycle LICENSES, Liquor Licenses, Minibus/ZR/BT Permits, and whatever else they are called or dressed up in.

    For, there is really one type of TAXATION – DIRECT INCOME TAXATION – which like so-called PAYE/NIS – involves portions of your income being directly stolen by the state from your overall income, in respect of your salary, in respect of your business income, or in respect of your going into a store and purchasing items with parts of your income, or in respect of your having to hand over portions of your income in order to bring goods through the ports of this country, etc.

    Such are WICKED EVIL DEMONIC DIRECT ATTACKS ON your incomes.

    These DIRECT ATTACKS by the government are wrong, evil, and criminal, and those persons who support such do NOT have any morals whatsoever in such cases.

    There is nothing good, nothing good at all, at all, in TAXATION. Nothing whatsoever!!!

    Imagine a person handing over a huge amount of money in the thousands of dollars of income to a wicked stealing government
    just to get a simple document/a piece of paper – a BT permit?? And, furthermore, having to hand over to this said theiving government, thousands of Barbados dollars more in income in so-called Road Taxes, so that the owner of that BT vehicle – who would be simply running this vehicle on the roads – which already belong to us the people – would avoid the likelihood of facing prosecution by the same wicked government, if he/she does NOT hand over such portions of his income???

    Well, the person who really wrote such foolishness above really needs to do some serious soul-searching!!

    Talking about implementation.

    Has the person who type-wrote that foolish tripe above (cited comments) ever studied the fact of TAXATION/the TAXATION having such diabolical far reaching effects ( big inefficient unwieldy bureaucratic government, etc) throughout the government and society, that progress and development within government and within a country become so thwarted and stagnated, to at least have conceived of the very adverse impacts repercussions on the same implementation processes of which he/she refered to??

    Could NOT this person who type-wrote such bilge see that, however EVIL, WICKED, DEMONIC, PERVASIVE TAXATION AND THE TAXATION PROCESS ARE, there are clear limitations to them?

    A future PDC Government shall ABOLISH ALL TAXATION in Barbados!!!

    PDC

  16. KISSMYA Avatar
    KISSMYA

    I COULD NEVER EVER understand the idea of Land Tax. I think that I agree that TAXATION is stealing money from the people. It is SLAVERY in another form.

  17. Royalrumble Avatar
    Royalrumble

    Is this the same Barbados Water Authority that the DLP said would greatly improve its service once it gets the 60% increase in water rates? Well, well, God help us all.

    This DLP has lost all moral authority to lead this country any farther. I strongly feel that the electorate should ask for a new mandate.

  18. Truth and Justice Avatar
    Truth and Justice

    Here is part of PM Thompson’s 2009 Budget Speech:

    The level of revenue generated from existing water rates is insufficient to cover the costs of providing water and wastewater services. More importantly, it is not enough to maintain the existing level of service provision. Hence, it has become necessary to seek an increase in the rates.

    The rates in existence today came into effect January 1, 2005. The existing rates have been structured to take into consideration the consumer’s ability to pay (affordability) and to encourage careful use of Barbados’ water resources (conservation).

    Barbados is a water-scarce country and consequently water shortages are becoming a problem with the continued growth in demand. Moreover, the amount of water available for development has become very limited. The Barbados Water Authority has had to resort to desalination to address the problem of water scarcity.

    The financial picture for BWA for 2009-2010 is distressing. The BWA is not generating sufficient funds to finance its operating budget, the capital programme, the debt service costs on the $150 million loan nor the Pension Plan.

    For a long time, our water mains have needed replacement, and more recently we have needed to increase the amount of potable water available. It is now a massive undertaking but it has to start some time. Now is that time.

    Too much money is wasted on pumping water of which a great deal (30% – 60%) is wasted through leaky drains, leaving residents without an adequate water service. We will this year begin the process of relaying these mains. It will take a long time to complete the job but the longest journey begins with the first step.

    Additionally, the need for more potable water will be met by commissioning a Reverse Osmosis plant to provide five million gallons per day more. The BWA has been instructed to seek private partners for this project as well as the mains replacement programme to ensure that this BWA improvement programme is efficiently and expeditiously executed and financed.

    This programme will cost approximately $50 million per year for the next several years. But without it, our people continue to be deprived of adequate water service, our efforts to house the population are frustrated and our attempts at expanding our tourism and real estate industries are stymied.

    The BWA has very little flexibility in reducing its costs. Approximately $80 million of BWA’s operating budget comprise costs that cannot easily be reduced without significantly reducing the level of service.

    Let me here itemize some of those costs:

    The projected financial position for the next three years indicates that BWA’s costs will continue to outstrip revenues resulting in operating losses and cash deficits. The accumulated net-loss position is projected at $121M and the accumulated cash deficit at $25M.

    These statistics show that this is not a one off situation but will continue well into the future, under the existing tariffs.

    The BWA has put in place a number of measures to reduce expenditures and to increase revenues. Some of these initiatives can be implemented expeditiously, while others require additional study to determine feasibility within the current operating environment. The key strategies include cost reducing and revenue enhancing measures.

    To ensure that BWA is a financially viable entity and is in a position to undertake the major capital works programme that its development plan envisages, a change in tariff has been requested.

    The increase as recommended by some analysts was in the vicinity of 100 percent of existing rates. I consider this high and not practical in the current economic environment.

    Water is too vital a commodity, to be priced beyond the reach of any citizen or household. I have asked for a sharpening of pencils and also for a reasonable and equitable structure that will ensure and safeguard access to and affordability by the most vulnerable. The Welfare Department and other Social Care facilities will assist the most vulnerable in the payment of their bills.

    All rates will definitely have to be increased by July 1, 2009.

  19. LeRoy Parris Avatar
    LeRoy Parris

    Solution to service delivery at BWA is to privatise. There is no other way to improve the Water Authority. Take a look at the increase in profits at BNB after it was privatised.

The blogmaster invites you to join and add value to the discussion.

Trending

Discover more from Barbados Underground

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading