Moontown

Water which has over the past two days flooded parts of the Diamond and Grove Housing Scheme stayed on the land yesterday as the authorities began putting measures in place to alleviate flash flooding in vulnerable areas.

The tractor-driven pump which was deployed to drain the flooded section of Diamond/Grove positioned next to a koker close to the Demerara River yesterday. It was not working.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), the National Drainage and Irriga-tion Authority (NDIA) has stepped up its programme to support RDCs and NDCs affected by localized flash flooding, which saw several areas recording as much as five inches of rainfall.

Excavators and pumps have been deployed along with engineers to assess the situation and take the necessary action.

During a visit to the area yesterday, persons there noted that their yards had been under water since Friday evening and according to them, the water rose last evening even though there was no rainfall.

At Grove/Diamond, in the Block X, Section Y area, Ricky Ramdanie  told Stabroek News that his yard had been under water since Friday morning and according to him, he lost vegetable plants as well as poultry. His two dogs also died as a result of the flooding.

A resident of Diamond lifting two bicycles to higher ground as floodwaters enveloped his yard yesterday.

Ramdanie along with other residents noted that the water drained into the area from the backdam, aback the housing  scheme in the vicinity of the East Demerara Water Conser-vancy and according to them the RDC in the area was not proactive  where implementing measures to cushion the situation is concerned.

Another resident noted that the area had been experiencing flooding for several months now but with heavy rainfall over the past few days, the water level had begun to rise further.

Another resident told this newspaper that she could not leave her home over the past two days since the water level in her yard was not receding. She said she has a two-month-old baby and according to her, the floodwaters caused a swarm of mosquitoes to invade her home at night.

Residents in the area stated that Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud during a visit to the area on Saturday assured that the MoA will assist in alleviating the flooded area but according to them, help seemed not to be in sight as the pump which was sourced to throw off water from the area was not working yesterday.

When Stabroek News visited the koker, located close to the Diamond/Grove market near to the Demerara River, persons there were waiting on spare parts to effect repairs to a mobile pump which had broken down. An overseer there told this newspaper that the pump was working when it was deployed there on Saturday but the machine, which was sourced from the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) developed mechanical problems.

Yesterday afternoon, residents in the area told Stabroek News that the pump attendant related to them that the machine would not be fixed until tomorrow and as such they expressed concern over the situation. GuySuCo officials could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Meanwhile, residents of Vive La Force on the West Bank of Demerara were yesterday mopping–up after floodwaters swamped their homes the day before. Residents there noted that water level began to drop on Saturday evening.

The MoA yesterday stated that works have been on-going  in regions along the coastland  affected by adverse weather conditions. Among those works are the excavation of main drainage areas, the installation of sluice doors at critical areas, empoldering and the installation of new drainage structures at various locations. (Stabroek News)

CMC

MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica — Secretary General of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) Edwin Carrington, says the challenges faced by the region over the last decade underscore the need for a regional integration movement.

He told Caricom leaders and other regional officials, as well as foreign diplomats, that the impetus provided by the challenges of the 21st century would provide the invigoration that the 15-member Community needs in the future.

Carrington said the energy crisis, the food crisis, the financial and economic crisis, the crisis resulting from the effects of climate change have all had and continue to have serious adverse impacts on all countries.

“In the face of such adversity, our Caribbean Community has, however, not allowed the demons of despair to hold full sway. Instead, perhaps due to those six decades of experience and the benefit of 37 years of a formalised common purpose, this Community has moved to combat the effects of these crises, by together working toward solutions for the whole, which would benefit the individual parts.”

Carrington said that if any lesson needed to be learnt regarding the imperative of regional integration, this last decade has reinforced it.

“It is one in which the most powerful nations in the world meeting in fora such as G8 and the G20, have been seeking to forge a common front to stave off the worst effects of these crises. Who are we to do less? Indeed what we need is more, not less regional unity,” Carrington said, telling the region that “we should not underestimate the value of our 37 years as a Community”.

The Secretary General said that the pre-eminent reason for regional unity must not be cast in the mould of simply battling adversity, nor in the nostalgia of a shared history.(Jamaica Observer)

CMC

MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica — United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called for “transparent and credible” presidential elections in Haiti later this year.

“The upcoming November elections will also be fundamental for ensuring Haiti’s democratic future. It is essential that they are transparent and credible,” said Ban, the first UN Secretary General to address the Caribbean Community (Caricom) leaders at their annual summit.

He said that the UN is working with its international partners to support the electoral effort in the French-speaking nation and was grateful for Caricom’s support in that regard.

He said that the recovery will take many years adding that “promises will not feed the people of Haiti…”

President Rene Préval has announced November 28 as the date for presidential and legislative elections and also issued a decree mandating the Caricom country’s nine-member Provisional Electoral Council to prepare for the presidential elections.

The upcoming general elections are likely to cost US$44 million and last month, delegates attending a donor’s summit in the Dominican Republic discussed ways to finance the elections.

The Haitian president said that he was thankful to Caricom for the support shown to Haiti since the catastrophic earthquake. (Jamaica Observer)

THE Caribbean’s travel and tourism industry is projected to earn US$11.68 billion and account for just under 600,000 jobs this year, underscoring its continuing importance to the region, a just-concluded industry impact study shows.

The study also projected good looking growth figures over the next 10 years, showing for example that the industry’s contribution to the region’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would rise from this year’s 3.7 per cent a year to 4.2 per cent a year.

But before that, the region will have to overcome the severe effects of the fallout caused by the recession in the United States which led to a 2.8 per cent drop in overnight visitor arrivals in 2009, “the worst performance since 2002″.

The study was conducted by United Kingdom-based Oxford Economics for the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) and the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA).

“Our research indicates that travel and tourism play a proportionately stronger role in both GDP and employment creation than in any other comparable region,” Oxford Economics said.

“In 2010, we forecast that the direct tourism and travel industry will account for 3.7 per cent of total GDP, whilst for our broader travel and tourism economy measure — which includes both direct and indirect effects along with the impact of investment, government collective consumption and merchandise exports related to travel and industry — this share rises to 12.4 per cent.

“Both of these figures are higher than any other comparable region,” the Oxford study said.

The breakout of figures found that overall the travel and tourism industry directly and indirectly employs 1.9 million people in the Caribbean, or one in every nine jobs.

Among the countries most impacted, the study found that Jamaica’s travel and tourism industry employs 284,000 people, which is a whopping one in every four jobs. It also accounts for 27.7 per cent of the island’s GDP, or US$3.7 billion. (Jamaica Observer)

— Desmond Allen

Caricom Single Economy takes priority at Jamaica summit By Observer News - Monday, July 5th, 2010

Leaders of 11 countries in the Caribbean Community (Caricom) are in Jamaica for their summit, which opened yesterday to, among other matters of priority, take forward decision-making about the Caricom Single Economy.

For observers, it seems a matter of more rhetoric, as noted last week by avowed regionalist Dr Ralph Gonsalves, prime minister of St Vincent & the Grenadines, who blamed the slow pace of complete regional integration on the lack of will power and positive action of regional heads.

Asked about the prospect of another talk shop and about the slow progress, Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer said the integration movement has to be viewed realistically.

“We are trying to build a platform for economic integration in the region. When you look at all the member states, we are at different levels of development and that poses some issues. The whole question of creating a level playing field for economic integration, that is an issue we haven’t settled as yet. This is a process. Some might say we are taking too long but we have to iron out the kinks. If we reach a point where we establish a single economy, we have to do it on a level playing field,” Spencer said.

He noted the signing of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States’ (OECS) Economic Union Treaty on June 27. The next step is for individual member states to go through the ratification process, with November 2010 set as the completion date.

“We believe our success in the OECS will be the fillip to get us where we want to go at the level of Caricom,” Spencer said.

Other matters that will have the attention of the prime ministers are crime and security, climate change and other matters relating to the economies of the respective countries.

Present at the meeting are the heads of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organization of American States and the United Nations.

Spencer said their attendance afford the opportunity to ask for greater assistance.

“We can make a case for a greater degree of understanding of the peculiar issues that affect member states of Caricom and we can call upon them to be more supportive, particularly at this time,” Spencer said. (Antigua Observer)

Pic Source: googleimages.com

As the nation awaits the decision of the Court of Appeal of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court in the Elections Petition Appeal Case, the ruling United Progressive Party (UPP) will continue to make a case for business as usual while the opposition Antigua Labour Party (ALP) will further position itself as a government in waiting.

Lawyers for both sides concluded oral arguments late Friday afternoon, with the judges setting July 9 as the day for the attorneys to make final written submissions. Chief Justice Hugh Rawlins, however, said the court would reserve its decision for a later unspecified date. He presided over the hearing with Justices Janice George-Creque and Ola Mae Edwards.

The hearing reviewed the March 31 High Court decision by Louise Blenman, which vitiated the seats of Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer, Dr Jacqui Quinn-Leandro and John Maginley, owing to irregularities on the March 12, 2009 election day, primary among them the late opening of several polling stations.

Speaking immediately after the hearing ended, PM Spencer said he was “reasonably comfortable.”

“I think our lawyers did an excellent job.  They made the case we think was pertinent to the issue but, of course, the three judges have reserved,” Spencer said.

Asked what happens in the while, he said UPP the administration will “continue to govern,” while UPP the party will continue to “mobilise the bases.”

In his weekly Sunday broadcast, ALP Political Leader Lester Bird called the UPP “a divisive and repressive” regime, and, in a show of confidence, told supporters to continue to show “maturity and restraint” as they “wait a little longer” for the party to resume governance.

“You have all shown great patience and restraint over this year and two months while the legal process has been on-going,” Bird said. “We are under starter’s orders; we wait only for the flag to signal that the race is on.”

If the High Court ruling is upheld, there will either be by-elections or general elections. That decision is the preserve of the sitting administration, but PM Spencer is, as expected, holding his cards close to his chest.

“Something has to happen,” he said with a laugh when asked about his leaning on Friday. “I can’t be more specific than that.”

When the judges will make their decision is now the subject of much speculation and legal mathematics. Going into the hearing, attorneys anticipated a result in two to three weeks. At the weekend, however, one of the lawyers on the case who requested anonymity said given the schedule of the itinerant court, it is reasonable to expect a ruling in September when the court next meets here. (Antigua Observer)

Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer is adding his voice to those who are calling for sober heads to prevail at LIAT, but he is doing so without apportioning blame to any side as others have done.

Recently, the management of the regional carrier and the Leeward Islands Airline Pilots Association (LIALPA) have been at loggerheads over myriad issues. This recent flare up in the acerbic relationship led to a two-day sick out in mid June that grounded the carrier after the pilots pressed home their point on several payment disputes.

Subsequent deduction of salaries for those pilots who called sick has further agitated LIALPA and set the travelling public on edge in anticipation of the next shot.

“You’re going to have problems from time to time … the pilots are aggrieved but we will eventually iron things out,” Spencer, a trade unionist by profession, said.

“We have to create an environment in which we can go forward together … we are all in this together and everybody has to act responsibly,” Spencer added.

Even more pressing to the prime minister, whose government, along with those of Barbados and St Vincent & the Grenadines, is a shareholder in LIAT, is support from other regional administrations.

In response to a question, the PM said competition is not the answer to LIAT’s woes, as that had been tried in the past and it failed. “It is a matter of getting it right,” Spencer said.

The formula, he posited includes cognisance that “LIAT is vital to the survival of the economies of these islands.

“So whatever we do, however we do it, that has to be borne in mind.  If LIAT cannot survive and operate, some of these islands will not have air travel … and some destinations are not viable … LIAT is subsiding air travel.  This is the context in which LIAT has to be looked at,” Spencer said.

He admitted that this operations model is costly, and he called for a “greater degree of commitment, more support from other governments who are benefitting from but not supporting” the airline.

“They have to step up and provide some kind of assistance to LIAT, whatever the mechanism is, to ensure that LIAT continues to provide the service that all of them are benefitting from, some of them more than the shareholders,” Spencer said.

Referencing the Caricom Summit under way in Jamaica, Spencer said the matter of air and sea travel, a vital component if the single market and economy is to work, will be an agenda item. (Antigua Observer)

Pic Source: googleimages.com

It is true that Antigua Public Utilities Authority (APUA) is gravely indebted to several suppliers, to the tune of more than $150 million and its indebtedness, a source of serious concern for the authority’s solvency, continues to climb monthly.

However, contrary to reports making the rounds, it is false that Saturday’s island-wide power outage, which lasted several hours, was the result of one of those service providers, Antigua Power Company Limited (APCL), using its leverage to collect on the debt.

A collective groan went across the country Saturday when the power went off, causing the report about APCL to spread further, but APUA General Manager Esworth Martin dismissed the talk.

“I assure you that it is not so sensational. As recently as (Friday) we had discussions with APC. Yes, we have some challenges as far as payments to APC and we continue to negotiate. The negotiations have not reached the stage whereby it would pose a threat to APUA’s capacity or capability to purchase power from APC … or APC not being in a position where they would not be able to or willing to provide us with energy,” Martin said.

Calid Hassad, APCL’s general manger, also refuted suggestions that the Hadeed-owned company had withheld its power supply, adding, “We continue to work closely with APUA to resolve whatever issues exist, and we even went as far as to put one of our new generators online to restore power.”

Martin, meanwhile, admitted that APUA has an agreement with APCL on clearing a $35 million debt, and without outlining the payment terms or confirming the amount owed, he said, “We have not been able to meet the desired lump sum that APC required but, in installments, we have been liquidating the debt.”

Asked to comment on the monies APUA owes APCL, Hassad said, “There has been some movement.” And like Martin of APUA he added, “I would not enumerate … But what we are looking at here at APCL is the best interest of Antigua, so we will work with APUA in a compromising approach rather than a confrontational one.”

Sources told The Daily OBSERVER that following an exchange of letters about the debt, the statutory corporation agreed to pay $5 million by April 1, an additional $10 million by the end of April, and 15 monthly installments of $1 million, in addition to payment of current charges.

The Daily OBSERVER has also learnt that APCL recently filed a lawsuit seeking prompt payment of $15 million of the arrears.

Speaking of Saturday’s power outage, APUA Electricity Manager Lyndon Francis said contrary to reports that APUA and APCL were engaged in a standoff, the private electricity provider actually helped to restore power.

“One of the challenges has been that one of the bigger sets on the grid has been tripping off sporadically, randomly. We are in collaboration, working along with our partners, and our power supplier, APC, has gone as far as to engage an expert to help them and us to troubleshoot the particular problem with that engine. The problem with the engine led to some more outages than usual. We also have some problems with fuel and West Indies Oil Company (WIOC), APC and APUA are investigating that matter as well.”

The generators that failed on the weekend are owned by WIOC and leased to APUA, and the statutory corporation is responsible for the maintenance and management of their use.

Hassad yesterday confirmed that APCL assisted APUA during the “huge electrical fault, which triggered the consequential effect of the shutdown.”

He also noted that the generator APCL put on line at the weekend is one of those that is at the centre of a legal battle, now in the appeal stage, between the company and government.

In addition to the monies owed to APCL, APUA owes WIOC close to $86 million, causing that company to demand payment for fuel for all new transactions up front, a well-placed source said.

APUA has also racked up around $25 million in arrears to Aggreko, for the rental of generators, and the company’s choice of heavy fuel over diesel, at just under double the cost for the former over the latter. This newspaper understands that the loss to APUA over the last six years for fuel alone stands at $100 million.

Reportedly, the matter of the APUA debt to APCL, in the first instance, and its modus operandi in choosing suppliers have been the subject of discussions between interests representing APCL and members of the Cabinet of Antigua & Barbuda, although the matter, the newspaper understands, has not been tabled in Cabinet. (Antigua Observer)

By Ria Taitt Political Editor

Before the May 24 general elections it was promising time for the “PP coalition” (People’s Partnership).

Now it must be “deliverance” time, not “back-backing, back-tracking” time, PNM leader Dr Keith Rowley said yesterday at the launch of the PNM local government election campaign.

Living up to his reputation as a “fighter” always ready to take on “all comers”, Rowley went through promises made to pensioners, URP and CEPEP workers and other sections of the electorate by the People’s Partnership.

Speaking at the Chaguaramas Convention Centre, he thundered: “(Pensioners) don’t you want your $3,000 a month pension now? They promised you $3,000 once you cross 60 (years). I want the money now! No games! No excuses! No back-back!”

To a roar of approval from his audience, he continued: “Workers, wouldn’t you like your $20 minimum wage now. I am not accepting from my friend Mr (Errol) McLeod that they have to do discussions, revisions and reviews. If you didn’t know what you were talking about (before getting into office), then what were you talking about?…Now you are inside (the government) what is there to review? So therefore…they got votes under false pretenses. We want we money now!”

Noting that CEPEP workers and URP workers were promised a pay increase, Rowley bellowed, to applause: “They want their money now!”

“And on behalf of all the people who supported them (the People’s Partnership) on the basis that there would be no property tax at all, we not buying this argument now about no property tax on residences. You didn’t say that before. It was ‘no property tax’. No property tax on business property!

“And of course some school children will get computers and some wouldn’t get,” he said.

He asked his listeners to imagine a school environment where some school children had laptops and others did not.

Saying that the government came into office “bad-mouthing the PNM, talking foolishness and making all kinds of promises,” Rowley shouted: “It is deliverance time now! July 26, we will send a message to them– Don’t mess with the people and the PNM.”

He said elections were called and Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar had gone off – some days on public business (to the Caricom Heads of Government meeting) and on a vacation (to Miami).

“The Prime Minister has to make space for Jack to climb the beanstalk,” he said, bringing the house down.

Rowley said the camouflage had already begun to fall off the “PP..this basket of confusion”.

He said that at its election launch on Friday night at the Mid-Centre Mall, the People’s Partnership presented a mere two dozen candidates because the (UNC and COP) could not complete “the horse-trading and bartering”.

“And they have the gall to admit to tell you (the country) that,” Rowley said.

By contrast, he said, the PNM “burnt the midnight oil” and was able to present a full slate of 134 candidates.

“I understand that they intend to send 32 corpses (COP) against the PNM in the East/West Corridor. We will beat all of them!” he declared, adding that they would be beaten whenever they emerged.

Rowley said the incompetence of the government was already evident.

He said this government would shut down the smelter project and confine the people of La Brea and its environs to persistent poverty and underdevelopment.

“In as much as the PP may be awash with easy money, in as much as they have promised the people the sky, the moon and the stars, the fact remains that they really have no track record or concept upon which to judge them. In so far as some of them have any record at all it may only be a police record and one of questionable character. As promising as they may look, as aggressive as they may sound- and just listen to Jack Warner or Anand Ramlogan and ask ourselves if with that behaviour they could have found a place in a PNM administration.”

“As integrated as they may want to appear, they still remain a gathering of convenience, they still remain Jack’s political investment, ready to fall apart at the seams the first moment that they are challenged with a real problem requiring them to make the hard choices about national priorities,” Rowley said.

Rowley said the PNM was “wounded but very much alive”.

And he warned those who were “anxious to write us off” that the PNM is going to re-emerge “more sparkling than ever…more all-embracing than ever, proving that it is the only true enduring political diamond in the history of Trinidad and Tobago. A diamond to cut into all brittle glass of political pretenders”.

“I am a fighter. You know that. I know how to fight. I take on all comers. And, as always, I am fully prepared to put my entire fighting skills to work on behalf of our party and our country. Let them come! Let Jack Warner come. Let Kamla come. Let all of them come and meet me and the PNM” Rowley said.

“Yes! Yes man!” the crowd shouted. (Trinidad Express)

Kamla urges regional leaders to use Petroleum Fund to save children’s lives

By Andy Johnson Montego Bay, Jamaica

PRIME Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar came here to her first Caricom summit with a bag of suggestions for the consideration of her colleagues, urging them to take action on what she considered to be some of the critical issues facing the region.

Speaking for 20 minutes, two-and-a-half times more than the eight minutes she was allotted on the programme schedule, she told the opening ceremony last evening the region should consider such issues as the environment, education and the plight of women and children as requiring urgent pan-Caribbean effort and action.

She said leaders should consider using the Petroleum Fund to support expenditures in these and other areas, saying that her government would maintain its commitment to the fund.

Even as she put them on notice that her administration would make what she called “some strategic shifts in policy direction”, she rushed to assure her audience that “our commitment to Caricom and to the integration movement remains unchanged”.

While she said that the movement had served as a catalyst for achievement of a viable economic community, and like those who spoke before she praised some of the achievements of the movement over its 37-year history, Persad-Bissessar said there was need to do more.

“We must work harder to reduce poverty, so that more of our people can enjoy a better standard of living,” she said.

She said there was also room for greater improvement in the provision of healthcare and in the preparation for and the responses to natural disasters.

She said the region’s history of being able to “speak with one voice” on many critical international issues was a factor which enhanced the stature of the nations in Caricom in the international community.

Earlier in her address, the Prime Minister directly addressed Haitian President Rene Preval, saying that since it was the first time she was addressing him as one head to another, she was reaffirming the commitment of the government and people of Trinidad and Tobago to assist the government and people of Haiti, in the wake of the devastation wrought by the earthquake on January 12.

Referring later to the “C&BTT” campaign to Clean and Beautify Trinidad and Tobago launched last month under the auspices of her office, Persad-Bissessar presented it as a possible model for consideration of a pan-Caribbean programme on addressing environmental concerns.

She said it was one of the issues she would put to the table for further discussion in the working sessions of the conference which begin this morning.

She then led to what she saw as the significance of the Petroleum Fund, again pledging that her government was “firmly committed to sustaining and strengthening it”, while suggesting that along with this there must be a commitment to greater accountability as to how it was used.

Here she laid out her proposals for the fund to be spent in those areas and on those issues she felt important for the greater advancement of people across the region.

“It is ironic that in this region we are islands, yet we pay so little attention to the state of the environment,” she said.

“We are losing our competitive edge in education,” she added.

And on the question of healthcare, she raised the issue of her government’s implementation of the campaign promise to start the Children’s Life Fund, which is committing $100 million to help provide critical surgery for children with critical and life-threatening conditions.

“Perhaps the Petroleum Fund could be used to help start a Pan-Caribbean effort like this,” she told the gathering, adding that she could think of no better way for the fund to be used and proposing to seek further discussions on it over the course of the summit.

Persad-Bissessar was one of four Caricom heads to speak at last evening’s opening, the others being Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerritt, Dr Denzil Douglas, Prime Minister of St Kitt’s and Nevis, and conference host, Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding.

Also in her address, the Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister reiterated part of the introduction to her which said that she considered Jamaica as her second home.

She said she spent 14 years here, during which time she studied, taught and lived.

She fell in love here, she said, and it was here that she attended her very first political meeting.

Bob Marley’s music, she told the audience, was a central part of the music for her campaign, adding that all these things contributed to the fact that Jamaica had helped produce the person who was now the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago.

But having spent some time in Barbados as well, she said, those experiences helped shape her Caribbean consciousness. (Trinidad Express)