ANOTHER BUSINESS LEADER FINDS HIS VOICE

WITH the country’s economy slipping lower and lower, a crucial leader in industry and commerce has finally spoken out.

Dr. Thackwray “Dax” Driver, Chief Executive Officer of the Energy Chamber, is now saying that it cannot be business as usual.

If there are no new investments for upstream energy production or downstream plants, “our economy is going to contract hugely and the standard of living for Trinidad and Tobago’s entire population is going to plummet,” Driver said.

That is a belated recognition by one of the prime figures in the energy sector and comes after many stakeholders have expressed alarm at the non-performance of the Rowley administration.

Driver said: “We have no time to waste and collectively Trinidad and Tobago is going to have to find a way to implement change faster.”

His comments come after long years of silence by him, the Energy Chamber and key figures in the sector.

He criticised the “siloed decision-making process.”

The Chamber boss has also awoken to the reality that ministries and agencies are “pulling in different directions.”

Driver is also now appreciating that the project approval process is not designed for speed.

Over the years, other commentators have noted the sharp decline in T&T’s ease-of-doing-business procedure, which is a major factor in investors bypassing the country.

A recent report from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) revealed that in 2022, T&T had a net outflow of investments to the value of US $914 million.

That placed the country in the worst investment position in the Caribbean.

Driver has now discovered that 33 approvals are required from eight government ministries.

“Most of these took place in series rather than working parallel,” he observed.

“And shockingly in 2023, most of the decisions have still to be taken using paper files and relying on physical signatures of the decision-makers.

“We have heard of cases where important decisions cannot be taken because a hardcopy file has gone missing.”

These and other critical observations about official red tape and lack of investments have been repeatedly made by others.

The influential Energy Chamber has, at long last, now come to terms with the stark truth.

Similarly, Gregory Aboud, President of the Downtown Owners and Merchants Association (DOMA), called for an end to the silence on the crime epidemic.

DOMA expressed anguish about “uncontrolled lawlessness” and that the “demoralised population” is living in “fear and distress.”

There is “hopelessness” and families are enduring “pain and suffering,” Aboud said.

There are also “stagnating investment decisions,” consumer confidence is being destroyed, and there is “little or no job creation.”

The crime situation “has every sector under strain.”

All of this was said many times over by others in society, while DOMA and other business groups sat back.

Finally, DOMA is concerned about T&T “passing the point of no return.”

Now if only the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce would stop playing footsy with the Government for narrow gains, and speak out as the country is being wrecked by crime and a failing economy.