Let us build up rather than fight

EDITOR: The people of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines have a choice; we can show the world that we are ready and capable to run with the big boys, that we can attract the big international investors, and that we are mature enough to manage the investment climate. Or we can get caught up in small island thinking and ignore the big picture to our detriment.

Have no doubt that there are other investors out there, other big companies watching the Sandals project at Buccament, they are watching to see what sort of investment climate there is, how we respond as a people. Do we show them that we are unable to manage such a situation and that our first response is to try and kill the golden goose even before it hatches, and do we show them that we are ready for the future?

Let us stop for a moment and think. Why is it that we are now trying to throw dirt at a company that has done nothing other than try to prove time and again that it is interested in the welfare of our citizens? I have been following this closely from the start so if you forget let me remind you.

According to what has been reported in the press the government has originally asked for a US$100 million dollar investment, instead the company invested double that. That is more value for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. US$200 million that is big money. You know how many islands jealous SVG right now.

Two years ago before the hotel opened and remember, it did not have to do this, Sandals started hiring young men and women and sending them away for training and giving them a job to earn money, this was after the eruption of the volcano and we know how bad it was. Sandals stepped up when many others looked after their own business, including some of those now complaining. A lot of stories have been reported with some of those people talking about how that experience has changed their lives. At that same time, hundreds of locals got hired to work on the construction site, and that meant money they would have had to buy goods and groceries and pay their bills. Ask all those shops and bars down in Buccament. Last year the same media where you seeing all these negative stories were the ones who reported that Sandals had painted and upgraded the primary school in Buccament.

Recently we saw the big job fair and the hundreds more who the resort has hired, and according to the information coming out, there will be jobs for close to 900 people. Think about that figure, 900 people, the majority of who will come from right here in Saint Vincent. Why don’t our reporters talk to some of those people as well as those complaining. Remember the same negative stories about salaries? Well I did talk to a couple of the young people who were hired by Sandals and they said that not only will their basic salary be more than the minimum wage, they can even double the salary when the resort opens with gratuities. That means Sandals will make hundreds of people some of the highest hotel earners in the country. And what do you think they will do with the money they are now earning? Those hundreds of people will take travel in taxis, buy fish, buy local produce, pay bills and so on. That is how investment works. They will buy from many of the same people now making a fuss, and I bet you many of them will not even be able to supply the locals, far less the resort.

It is easy to get caught up in negativity, it is more sensational. But let us take a moment and show that we are mature enough to look at this investment for the incredible opportunity it really is for Vincy, and let us not fight down, but come together and build up.

Proud Vincy