The sparring in Parliament over the new Tobago ferry, the promisingly named Superfast Galicia, needs to be settled quickly and decisively by corrective action from the Government. While the embarrassing matter of the MV Su, a multi-million-dollar cargo vessel that never sailed for Tobago, is a convenient political tool for parrying hard Opposition questions about the issues facing the new boat, the Su only serves to remind citizens of money wasted on the Tobago seabridge that has offered no value to the people of that island.
Since citing the Su in a dirty laundry list of questionable expenditures by the PNM during its time in office back in June 2011, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan has said nothing more about that vessel, and it remained another rusty relic of parliamentary accusations until last week. What the people living in Tobago want and need is an efficient service, both by land and air, that brings the two islands together, not more chatter in the House of Representatives about who has or hasn’t done what.
They might take some bitter solace in knowing that promises to expand the facilities of the Port-of-Spain-San Fernando ferry, to rationalise that service so that it’s less of a burden to taxpayers, and to expand the ferry service to Venezuela and Grenada, have also remained vapour.