Category: Locations

‘10,000 Bahamians Living in Darkness in Grand Bahama’

Posted on March 24, 2014 in Economics, Implementation, Industries, Locations, Social

Go Lean Commentary

Cruise Powe Outage(1)“10,000 in the dark” … is probably a hyperbole.

But there is something wrong in Freeport, the 2nd city in the Bahamas, on the island of Grand Bahama. This foregoing article is just the “tip of the iceberg”. There are some major issues being endured there that warranted the attention of the publishers of the book Go Lean … Caribbean, a roadmap to implement the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The book focuses on re-booting the economics of the Caribbean, a region of 42 million people in 30 member-states; and yet there is a special advocacy in the book just for re-booting Freeport (10 Ways to Re-boot Freeport; Page 112).

The underlying issues in Freeport stems from the Hawksbill Creek Agreement, the 1955 landmark legislation that created the City of Freeport under the guise of a private company, the Grand Bahama Port Authority. This agreement makes Freeport unique compared to all the other Bahamian communities. But some tax-free provisions of that agreement expire after 60 years in 2015; industrial development in Freeport depended on those provisions. Today, companies, developers, and investors do not know if there will be an extension of those provisions. Alas, a lot of industrial activity has come to a stand-still; the resultant unemployment is undeniably debilitating the community. One observer, a noted local Chartered Accountant Kevin Seymour, likens this state to a ‘Damocles Sword’ hanging over the city – an imagery from Greek mythology.

See this news story here:

By: Denise Maycock, Tribune Freeport Reporter; (with some re-formatting by the Go Lean promoters)

Families For Justice President Rev Glenroy Bethel says it is inhumane that over 10,000 families in Grand Bahama are living without power, and are unable to feed their children a hot meal.

He is calling on Grand Bahama Minister Dr Michael Darville to launch an investigation to determine just how many families have been disconnected by the Grand Bahama Power Company.

In a press statement issued on Wednesday [February 26, 2014], Rev Bethel said: ‘Families for Justice Organisation’ sent a letter to the Minister for Grand Bahama, Dr Michael Darville concerning the inhumane treatment the Grand Bahama Power Company have imposed on thousands of Bahamians in Grand Bahama. [His direct statement:]

“It has been reported from reliable sources that there is over 10,000 family members, throughout the community of Grand Bahama, living in their homes in the dark for months, and in some cases for over one to two years without power – some with newborn babies and small children.”

Rev Bethel claims that many families are unable to feed their children and themselves because they have no power in their homes. [He continued:]

“This is inhumane and we call on the Minister for Grand Bahama to take some action against the Grand Bahama Port Authority, which is the regulators for the Power Company in our community.”

The civic leader said that while researching the Hawksbill Creek Agreement, their legal team discovered that the Power Company in Grand Bahama was never supposed to be a profit-making company. He said, [about] the Power Company is making high profits and putting a great burden on families in Grand Bahama:

“We make this plea to the Minister of Grand Bahama on behalf of the thousands of family members who are finding it difficult to cook a meal for their families, to intervene on those families’ behalf.”

Source: http://www.tribune242.com/news/2014/feb/27/10000-bahamians-living-in-darkness-in-grand-bahama/

The book Go Lean … Caribbean advocates for change in the Caribbean in general, but also specifically for Freeport. It posits that the private company, the Grand Bahama Port Authority should go! That the interest of the private shareholders should be divested (bought at market prices) and sold to a democratic municipality, the City of Freeport. The roadmap states further that the City should then assume the rights and benefits of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement, and then the tax-free provisions should be extended. With the 1955 law expiring, the power in this negotiation is with the people of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas.

The functionality of the CU would then impact the model of Freeport better than anywhere else in the Bahamas. The roadmap describes the integration of a regional power grid (Page 113) with underwater pipelines and cabling (Page 107), allowing lower energy costs, ranking/ monitoring of monopolies (Page 202), establishment of Self Governing Entities (Page 105), and incubating a ship-building industry (Page 209). The book further introduces the Union Atlantic Turnpike (Page 205) for efficient transportation and logistics options to empower the economic engines of the region. Freeport would be on the frontline of these endeavors, due to its infrastructure and proximity to US trading centers.

How to pay for all of this change? The roadmap details initial funding options (Page 101), escalation of the economic money supply/M1 factors (Page 198), and the consolidation of the region’s capital markets (Page 200), in a manner that would provide liquidity for the community investments activities.

This Go Lean roadmap projects the creation of 2.2 million new jobs (Page 151). How many of those jobs will be in Freeport? This is open to debate; but this constitutes a better debate compared to this headline of how many thousands are left in the dark, due to the failures of the Freeport society.

Download the free e-book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

 

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Tourism’s changing profile

Posted on March 21, 2014 in Implementation, Industries, Locations, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

ctdc.015The experiences in the Caribbean correspond to the observations of this article. Change has come to the Caribbean. Tourism continues to be the primary economic driver in the region; this is a static fact for the last 50 years, even though the dynamics of this industry is in constant flux. The Go Lean … Caribbean roadmap depicts that 4 major change agents have impacted this industry: technology, demographics, globalization, and climate change. This article affirms these issues.

Unfortunately the Caribbean region has not always planned for changes or adapted to them. There is still the expectation that the tourists visiting the islands would be North American or Western European and that the standard languages of Dutch, English, French and Spanish would suffice. Alas, this article depicted that the profile of modern tourism reflect a more global reach. Therefore, Caribbean communities must prepare for this change. They must accomodate the need for language translations, community education and racial/ethnic tolerance.

By: Lyndon Thompson

Tourism has shown remarkable staying power in recent years. Despite political instability, wars, natural disasters and a global financial crisis, the industry keeps getting up for another round. Japan is good example. After the 2011 earthquake and Fukushima nuclear accident, the number of visitors to the country plunged. But in 2013 more than 9 million tourists visited the country, a record high.

International tourist arrivals generally surpassed 1 billion in 2012 and are forecast to reach 1.8 billion by 2030. OECD countries account for nearly 60% of international tourist arrivals, but a shift in the global economy promises to change this picture somewhat as people in emerging economies travel more than before. Today, China spends eight times more on tourism than it did 12 years ago. Chinese tourists spent US$102 billion in 2012, a 37% increase over the previous year and more than any other country.

Russians are also more footloose, and rank fifth in terms of spending on outbound tourism. The number of tourists from India has also doubled since 2006. The UN World Tourism Organization estimates that by 2030, overall annual growth in outbound tourism will amount to 17 million in the Asia-Pacific region, 16 million in Europe, 5 million in the Americas, and a combined 5 million in Africa and the Middle East.

Emerging economies are drawing in more tourists, too. Over the next 15 years, the share of arrivals in emerging economies will increase by 4.4% annually, double the rate of arrivals in advanced economies, with South Asia topping the list. North America, on the other hand, will slip to the bottom.

Tourism directly accounts for 4.2% of GDP, 5.9% of employment and 21% of exports of services in OECD countries, enough for governments bruised by the financial crisis to see the industry as a catalyst for growth. They are becoming more dynamic, bringing in new business models and cutting red tape. They are shortening waiting times by offering online visa applications and automatic border checks, too: Turkey, for instance, introduced e-visa applications in 2013, reducing the need for tourists to queue on arrival.

The profile of today’s travelers differs sharply from that of their predecessors. Demographically, tourists are older–23% aged 55 or above–and more frugal, preferring shorter trips closer to home. Geographically, they tend to live in emerging economies rather than in developed ones. Most holidays are now booked online instead of through travel agencies. The holidays sought are often far off the beaten track and focus on a theme: adventure, culture and heritage, or food and wine. New niche markets have arisen, such as “diaspora”, gay and lesbian holidays, humanitarian tourism to work for good causes, and tourism for medical treatments.

Two other trends in tourism are also worth noting. First there is risky “dark tourism”, from hiking in Afghanistan to hunting pirates off the Somali coast, or even photographing conflict zones in Syria. This fashion should not be confused with the rather more solemn “memorial tourism”, which promotes trips to the scenes of great tragedies and wars, such as Ground Zero in New York, Auschwitz in Poland and war cemeteries across Europe.

With 2014 marking the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War, expect a rise in “memorial tourism” in the year ahead, particularly in Flanders in Belgium and the Somme region of France. In Japan there is a proposal to build a tourists’ village near the Fukushima nuclear plant, with fortified hotels to shield guests against any elevated radiation, the aim being to remind future generations of the 2011 tragedy there.

Such emotionally challenging trips allow travelers to reflect on the follies of humankind and the vulnerability of life. They can also serve to bond people together and build co-operation against future conflicts. Rather than an escape, they echo what the writer Samuel Johnson saw as the true reason for travelling: “to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.”

Source: www.oecd.org/cfe/tourism/

The book Go Lean … Caribbean purports that the Caribbean is the greatest address in the world. In order to appeal to the global market, the book, as a roadmap, posits that regional tourism stakeholders must engage these other ethnic populations. The roadmap advocates the use of Internet Communications Technologies and Social Media for bookings, and to sell the attractions of Caribbean culture and amenities. The plan also calls for establishing Trade Mission Offices in divergent cities like Spain and Tokyo for outreach to Mid & Far Eastern markets.

The Go Lean roadmap also advocates 10-Step approaches for elevating events and fairgrounds in the region. The tactical approach is for a technocratic Trade Federation that would finance and construct facilities and amenities as amusement parks, arenas, stadia & other venues structure as Self- Governing Entities. These bordered grounds would be independent of actual member-state governments.

This magazine article was published in the OECD Observer “e-Zine”. This online journal is the public relations arm of the OECD – Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development – an international economic organization of 34 countries founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade. It is a forum of countries committed to democracy and the free-market economy, providing a platform to compare policy experiences, seek answers to common problems, identify good practices, and co-ordinate domestic and international policies of its members. The OECD promotes policies designed to …
1). Achieve the highest sustainable economic growth and employment and a rising standard of living, while maintaining financial stability, and thus to contribute to the development of the world economy;
2). Contribute to sound economic expansion in Member as well as nonmember countries in the process of economic development; and
3). Contribute to the expansion of world trade on a multilateral, nondiscriminatory basis in accordance with international obligations.
Source: www.oecd.org/about/ (Retrieved November 2013).

Download the Book – Go Lean…Caribbean Now!!!

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6.5M Earthquake Shakes Eastern Caribbean

Posted on March 13, 2014 in Ethos, Government, Locations, Planning, Strategy

Go Lean Caribbean

The below news article highlights the regional threat of the active fault line (the Lesser Antilles subduction zone, also known for volcanoes) in the Eastern Caribbean basin. Notice that the countries affected are of American, Dutch, English and French legacies. In addition, there has been a number of small quakes in Puerto Rico in the last month.

Without a doubt, the Caribbean has to be on guard for danger from seismic activities. Plus, with constant threats during the annual hurricane season, there is a need for a full-time sentinel to monitor, mitigate and manage the risks of natural disasters in the region. This is the mandate for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The Go Lean … Caribbean roadmap describes the CU’s prime directives as empowering the region’s economic engines, providing security assurances and preparing/responding to natural disasters.
BLOG Map Earthquake

A 6.5-magnitude earthquake northeast of Barbados caused shaking across the Eastern Caribbean early Tuesday morning, according to the United States Geological Survey. The quake, which occurred 172 kilometres |northeast of Barbados, struck at around 5:27 AM local time.

The University of the West Indies Seismic Research Centre also recorded the quake as having a magnitude of 6.5 on the Richter scale. The quake was felt across the region, with weak |shaking felt as far north as Philipsburg, St Maarten and light to moderate shaking from |Martinique all the way down to Grenada.

The most reports of shaking were felt in Martinique, which was about 128 kilometres directly west of the quake’s epicentre, along with Barbados. There were not any reports of damage or injuries, although authorities in Martinique were recommending “extreme caution” in coastal areas, according to reports. Other countries that felt shaking included St Lucia, Dominica, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Guadeloupe, Trinidad and even Venezuela. It was the second 6.5-magnitude earthquake in the region in just over a month, following a similarly-sized quake in near Puerto Rico in January.

It was the strongest quake in that portion of the region since 2007, when a 7.3-magnitude quake struck near Martinique. As a point of reference, the earthquake in 2010 in Haiti was a |7.0-magnitude on the Richter scale. The 2007 Martinique quake had been the largest in the |region since a 6.9-Magnitude tremblor near Antigua in 1974.
Source: Caribbean Journal Online (Retrieved 02/18/2014) –
http://www.caribjournal.com/2014/02/18/6-5m-earthquake-shakes-eastern-caribbean-from-martinique-to-grenada/

The book details the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti Earthquake as an indictment for the region’s lack of planning/response. What’s more the book, as a roadmap, posits that there is the threat of even more earthquakes along the Enriquillo fault line.

Earthquakes are Mother Nature’s fury 100%; there is no way to prevent them, only plan for their eventuality. Unfortunately the Caribbean region has not planned accordingly, despite due warning. Despite the constant threats for disasters, we have failed! There is no integrated agency to monitor and manage these threats. Yes, there is the US Geological Services, but this agency’s American priorities may not align with the priorities of the Caribbean people as a whole.

The roadmap does implement an integrated agency. Without this implementation, the region can only beg for help. Lastly, the Go Lean roadmap advocates a 10-Step approach to outgrow the statue of a perennial beggar for International Aid. The Caribbean, by the end of this roadmap, should at last be a better place to live, work and play.

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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Could the Caribbean Host the Olympic Games?

Posted on March 12, 2014 in Ethos, Locations, Planning, Social, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

Freedom of speech is great for the flow of information in a democracy. But freedom of speech has its limits, notwithstanding libel, slander and defamation possibilities. If a person yells out “FIRE, FIRE” in a crowded theater, knowing that there is no fire, the resultant panic and crush of people fleeing for the exits is actually criminally liable. In some jurisdiction, if death results, the culprit can be charged with statues against “depraved indifference”. Wow, that could be serious!

On the other hand, there is the practice of dreaming and acting on dreams. Some of the biggest accomplishments in world history, started as someone’s dreams. Once actuated, one step after another led to the eventual fulfillment of the dream.

See this article here from Caribbean Journal Online News Site; retrieved 02/12/2014 from http://www.caribjournal.com/2014/02/13/caribbean-idea-could-the-caribbean-host-the-olympic-games/:

thumbWhile the Caribbean has become relatively accustomed to dominating at the Summer Olympics, this year’s crop of Caribbean winter athletes has us thinking. With all of the Caribbean’s continued success in international athletics, why couldn’t the region (or one of the countries in the region host the Summer Olympics? 

The Olympics has been held in the US, Asia, Australia, Europe and (soon) South America, but never in the Caribbean.  So we looked around the region to think about which countries could, at least hypothetically host the Games. The Games must be based in a single city; given much of the region’s size, the Games would likely need to be held across an entire island, though perhaps nominally based in a city.  

A potential Caribbean host country would also need several major qualities: a large enough territory to host the myriad events held in the Summer Games; a high enough level of infrastructural development; a big enough airport and a hotel stock large enough that it could expand without too much difficulty to meet the needs of the Games. We isolated several Caribbean islands: Jamaica, Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), Trinidad and Tobago, Guadeloupe, Puerto Rico.

Jamaica is large enough and its hotel stock is big enough, but its infrastructural development would need work; given Jamaica’s brand equity around the world (and its athletic dominance), this could be a natural choice, with Montego Bay being the best fit for a single city given its topography. Hispaniola would be the most provocative choice: could two neighbors that often have a stormy relationship bridge their divides and come together for international sport? Lack of infrastructure, particularly on the Haitian side, would be an issue, but adding that infrastructure would also enormously benefit the western half of the island.

Could the Games be held in Port-au-Prince and Santo Domingo together? Trinidad and Tobago has the infrastructural development, the territorial size, and the airport, but a small hotel stock. Could Port of Spain host the Games with many events held in Tobago? A system of fast ferries and increased flights would make for an entertaining twin-island Olympics.

 Guadeloupe would be a bit of a wild card; its roads and infrastructural development far outpace much of the region; it has enough undeveloped land and a relatively large size. Could the Games spread across each of the islands of the archipelago? Puerto Rico is large, with developed infrastructure, and it’s part of the United States, with a relatively robust hotel stock and strong existing sports infrastructure. Of course, its debt problems would pose a significant hindrance to hosting the Games in the next few decades.

Cuba is another option, although the continued embargo from the United States would likely be a significant stumbling block. Otherwise, the island has the size, infrastructure and level of development to be considered. There’s another option — what about a regionally-hosted Olympics? Would the IOC ever support something like that? Would the Caribbean grant temporary approval for foreign airlines to operate regional service? Would a fast-ferry company seize on the opportunity?

If the region could source the majority of the funding from sponsorship’s and other external sources, the benefits of new hotels, infrastructure, investment and prestige could be significant. But the Caribbean would need to ensure that the foreign money was enough that it didn’t put it any further into already-crippling debt. Ultimately, the question is this: instead of spending billions on developed countries hosting the Games, why not spend the same money for an Olympic Games that actually leads to development?

Imagine a Trinidad or a Jamaica or a Hispaniola with fresh, modern hotels, large stadia and, crucially, sparkling new roads (not to mention the vast tourism marketing potential of hosting the Games). Of course, there’s another major issue: the weather. Summer in the Caribbean means the risk of hurricanes. But with major storms popping up across the globe, is the Caribbean really alone in that risk anymore? And couldn’t Olympic development be done at a hurricane-proof standard?

What do you think? Could the Caribbean ever host an Olympic Games?

The Caribbean hosting the Olympics is just dreaming, not reporting. Most men and women standing on the podium receiving their winning medals can trace their origins back to some dream. A dream for the athlete, coach and/or parent. Sometimes, too the whole community is dreaming. Is the thought of the Caribbean hosting the Olympics some day just a dream now in 2014 or can the “dominoes” be put in place that once actuated can lead to an eventual successful bid to host some future Olympiad?

Tipping the “dominoes” to enable a better business environment is the mission of the Go Lean … Caribbean roadmap. This even applies to sports. The books purports that sports can be a great economic driver for the region, and that the business model of the Olympics can be forged in the region on a minor scale. In fact the book proposes the CU Games as a bi-annual event that encompasses many Olympic-style events, more than just Track & Field. This approach would bring the necessary regional integration necessary to develop any long time plans for a big dream of the Olympics. (But the recommendation here is to NEVER host one).

This commentary declares that the merits of the foregoing article is pure rubbish. No one Caribbean country possesses the population base and economic engine to make an Olympic bid viable. While comparisons can be made for Greece, the host country for the 2004 Summer Olympics, this example is a better argument for opposition of any Olympic hosting. Greece experienced much financial distress as a result of their Olympic hosting; the country was near insolvency during the European Sovereign Debt crisis of 2009 – 2012, if not for the bail-outs of the European Union.

To the contrary, the entire Caribbean region tallies 42 million people and the results of economic integration can yield a GDP of $800 Billion (2010). Greece on the other hand had a population count of 10.8 million and GDP of $250 for the same period.

Lastly, the Go Lean roadmap calls for the emergence of the Caribbean dollar unified currency. This structure would spur the elevation of the region’s capital markets (9) for stocks and bonds. This approach would satisfy the liquidity needs to finance the construction of any and all sporting facilities required for sporting events.

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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