No more delays to ‘open the seaports’ - Hon Penn tells Fahie Gov’t
“We have to be ready to open our seaports. We have to learn to live, work and manage COVID-19,” Hon Penn said in a statement released today, April 5, 2021.
He said with regards to VI’s April 15, 2021, scheduled re-opening of the ports, “We cannot afford another false start.”
Undue hardships as a result of closed ports – Hon Penn
The Opposition Leader said that across the territory, persons unemployed or under-employed for over a year now due to the pandemic cannot afford to continue undergoing such “undue hardship”, as such, seaports should be opened to get the economy moving.
Hon Penn also expressed concerns regarding ferries operating from the Cyril B. Romney Tortola Pier Park.
“Persons living on the Sister Islands may not benefit from this change. Often, shipping bulky items to the Sister Islands via ferry, this may prove to be a logistical nightmare for those persons,” the statement said.
He said the ferry service will add to the difficulty already experienced in finding parking and a designated on/offloading location at the Pier Park.
Solve Jetty woes
Further, the Opposition Leader highlighted the lack of an operational jetty at West End along with ferrying persons into Road Town can have an adverse effect on the Jost van Dyke economy.
“Businesses on the Sister Island are virtually on life support and the livelihood of the business owners and their employees would be at stake. Penn stated that precluding the option of taking a ferry to and from West End might deter visitors from traveling to the Sister Island of Jost van Dyke where many of the businesses depend so heavily on Tourism,” Hon Penn lamented.
However, despite the opposition criticisms of the Fahie Government COVID-19 response, the territory has been hailed as having a model strategy for pandemic management in the Eastern Caribbean.
Balancing Economy & Safety
VI's response was recognised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in an official presentation of its joint reports with ISGlobal entitled, ‘COVID-19 Policy Reports for Recovery in the Eastern Caribbean: Analysis, Scenarios and Considerations for Opening to Tourism.’
23 Responses to “No more delays to ‘open the seaports’ - Hon Penn tells Fahie Gov’t ”
come on for real $200. round trip just to go st thomas for the day, the is some real @## crap