Caroni Central MP and former planning minister in the People's Partnership government Dr Bhoe Tewarie says what has happened to the Sandals project is unfortunate for Tobago and for the tourism sector in T&T.
He said, "Dr Rowley and his obstinate, belligerent ministers are directly responsible for this failure. From the very beginning, no one in the Government would explain the project properly. The story changed as they moved from one explanation to another as if no citizen would remember what they said before.
"Simple questions about environmental concerns, the structure of investment, the role of private sector investment, the extent of concessions and how the Government planned to optimise the beneficial impact of the Sandals presence here, were treated with antagonism and were not answered directly and transparently. The net effect was confusion in the minds of almost every citizen, negative publicity and doubt in the mind of the principal investors.
"Dr Rowley and his ministers must take full responsibility for their refusal to level with the citizens of this country on whose behalf any government of T&T governs. The debacle of the Tobago ferry has not helped."