Minister of the Environment and Drainage, Dr. Denis Lowe.
Dr. Lowe: Government is on the right track
Fri, 03/18/2016 - 2:21pm
By:
JH
BARBADOS has gone through a period of stabilisation and is now going through a period of restructuring of its economy, which is now facing resumption of growth. So said Minister of the Environment and Drainage, Dr. Denis Lowe during his contribution to the
Estimates debate, comparing the current challenges to the difficult times which the country faced in the early 1990s.
“Is it not true that when the BLP took over the government in 1994, that after the government was going through a torrid economic crisis that growth had returned and it was less than one per cent growth? They came into Office and the Honourable Member for
St. Peter said he didn’t want to come off the crease... Now the Minister of Finance has steered the economy to a positive growth and trajectory, [they say] ‘he’s not doing a thing – wasting time, the country isn’t going anywhere.’
“If Barbadians are struggling with this government, they are struggling in a time of difficulty. However, Barbadians were struggling with the Labour Party when there was much money in the country.
“I am convinced that the government is on the right trajectory, that the government’s growth policy and development policy is embedded in the global sustainable goals and accepts the 2030 agenda for sustainability as it is outlined. The government of today is progressive in its thinking and is prepared to continue to drive the development and reconstruction of our society.
“We are reconstructing around our essential pillars, economic viability social balance, good governance and environmental soundness.”
Minister Lowe told the Honourable Chamber that climate change presents a clear and present threat to the island’s water resources, and commended the work being carried out by the Minister with responsibility for Water Resource Management, Dr. David Estwick.
“There is a drought that has been going on for three years and the Minister has been doing everything in his power to make sure there are creative implements to enhance the provision of water.
“I say this, if the Labour Party whilst in party had done what was supposed to have been done, we would have had less disruption today in St. Joseph, because all of the mains would have been laid at a cost that would not have required the kind of stresses and strains that we now face.
“The Minister has to do the work, we have to change the mains because our unaccounted for water was too high.
“I want to make the point, as long as climate change is a reality, and it is, all nations around the world even those who are not willing to accept the data – climate change is a fact. It is affecting our weather patterns and we have real difficulties now with the droughts
in the area,” he said.