Support for fast ferry service

THE business community appears to be warming towards investing in a proposed fast ferry service to move goods and people around the Caribbean.

Dr. Damien King, one of the members of the CARICOM Commission on the Economy, stated during a discussion that the decision to create the fast ferry service has received strong support from governments and other interests in the region.

He said this in itself is going to increase private sector confidence in getting the required investment for the proposal.

Dr. King, who lectures in Economics at the University of the West Indies, Jamaica, said what is also going to be helpful is the fact that  lots of money is being spent on an existing and inefficient Caribbean transport systems.

“What the fast ferry service is going to do is to reduce the cost of transportation of people and goods, which creates the motivation for the investment in the system,” said Dr. King.

“So the money is there,” he reassured.

He was supported by fellow Commissioner and Chairman, Professor Avinash Persaud, who said there is a “series of negotiations taking place” with regard to the ferry system.

“I want to emphasise that the private sector will buy into it and buttress it,” he declared.

The system is one of the several recommendations contained in the Commission’s report. The Commission was set up by regional governments looking to breathe fresh life into the economies of Caribbean countries, which have gone off course over the course of the last ten years or so.

Persaud said that regulatory changes need to be made. “Today there are many regulatory obstacles to the movement of goods and people around the region,” he maintained.