By Chantalé Flecther
TOBAGO, the new palm islands.
Deputy Chief Secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Watson Duke described this as his vision for the island during a presentation titled, Tobago’s Blue Print of the Green Economy at the Dubai 2020 Expo to thousands of investors on Thursday.
In a video posted on Facebook on Friday, Duke also announced plans for the first and only Container Port in Tobago to be used for transhipment to help persons drop and pick up goods from South America.
He explained, “It will also be a cargo port for persons flying in, drop their goods and they can take it from there and carry it to South America.
“As I’ve already gotten persons interested, but the deal isn’t closed as yet, so you can get involved.”
Duke boasted that cargo ports tend to make millions of dollars and extended an invitation to yachties to rest and park at the future port, where they would receive “first-world type of entertainment”.
In addition, he said there were numerous developments for Tobago from the new Marina Bay Islands with replicas as those in Las Vegas and Dubai.
He said, “Some will have malls that look like those in Europe, America, tennis courts, modern-day cinemas, water parks, a hotel, casino and more.”
Duke described these as “pleasure spots” that people want, but assured beach fronts will also be protected as they have suffered from climate change.
He said, “We intend to resand the beach and create a whole new beachfront with a beautiful garden, boardwalk and such.”
Duke said, “In order to ensure we do not miss out on the cargos going up north and down south, we have provided our own light manufacturing centre that will be placed on 200 acres of land which will be green and powered by renewable energy.”
He said that many people could not afford a trip to the United States or even Dubai, but if they could take a plane or the boat to Tobago.
“Then they can see Dubai right there in Tobago, that’s our palm islands. They can see a little bit of Las Vegas in Tobago and all these islands will have their own beauty.”
Duke was part of a 16-member delegation that represented Trinidad and Tobago at the World Expo 2020 in Dubai led by T&T High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Vishnu Dhanpaul.
Other members included Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts Simone Thorne-Mora Quinones – Head of the Cultural Contingent; Senior Technical Adviser in the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts, Carla Cupid; Chairman of Tourism Trinidad Limited Clifford Hamilton; General Manager, exporTT Dhanraj Harrypersad; Vice President, Investments, invesTT Pramilla Ramdahani; and Chief Executive Officer of Tobago Tourism Agency Louis Lewis.
They joined 190 participating countries and millions of visitors in the Expo where representatives would promote T&T as a premier business, trade and investment destination.
The Expo began in October 2021 and will conclude on March 31.
