It is a dangerous world that we live in today. It is one full of uncertainties as we consider the complex effects of climate change, political change in North Africa and the Middle East as well as the continuing effects of the global economic crisis. And lest we forget there is the ongoing war against a supra national radical Islamic network that has changed the face of warfare by creating new structures of alliances waging total war against both military and civilian targets with a cowardly preference for the latter. Amidst all this is the continuing technological and innovative change that has a disruptive effect on long cherished business models, creating new consumption patterns that affect us all.
As Barbadians face the future we need to identify and seize the opportunities rather than focus on the negatives. It is an opportunity to streamline both our government and business processes and maximize the use of new technological tools in doing so.
It is a time for bold leadership to change the way we do business and reduce response times to the bewildering array of global forces that impact our society. Doing nothing is not an option.
There is a series of actions that we need to take to protect the gains that we have made over the decades and to drive us forward to a higher level of achievement.
Now is the time for us to develop new economical reliable sources of energy to power our economy and secure our future. Absent an abundance of natural gas the most logical option is to install a network of nuclear powered mini generation systems. These new systems are being developed and manufactured by Westinghouse, Siemens, Hitachi and General Electric and can be barged in and relocated on a flatbed trailer to its final site for a turnkey installation.
There is a place for other alternative sources of power but the core generation needs of the country will always be oil, natural gas or nuclear power. With oil now over US$100 a barrel and projected to be US$300 a barrel by 2020, an oil based generation system becomes prohibitively expensive. Given the level of turbulence in North Africa and the Middle East the short term price movements could be even more dramatic.
At the same time the world is now facing a protracted bout of extremely high food prices due to a multiplicity of factors that show no signs of abating. Consequently, government needs to restructure its method of taxation that, under the present system of import duty and VAT, automatically increases with the increased cost of food. At the same time the business community should be exploring alternative systems of food distribution to achieve as much efficiency as possible. Needless to say, we also have to accelerate our capacity to do more to feed ourselves by expanding food production on our remaining farm lands. In this regard it seems that we are finally focusing on the greatest deterrent to farmers, crop theft.
Finally we need to release the energies and entrepreneurial spirit of young people by creating an enabling environment for change and risk taking. Barbadians can now live here and work anywhere in a world, a world of scarce knowledge based skills. What is needed to facilitate this is a robust ultra broadband connectivity throughout the island that will ultimately require fiber optic connections to the home and business. An island wide Wi-Fi service being promoted by the Barbados Entrepreneurship Foundation is a good first step and should be followed by an early roll out of 4G networks by the cell phone operators.
No comments:
Post a Comment