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To­ba­go stake­hold­ers yes­ter­day of­fered mixed re­ac­tions as the is­land com­mis­sioned its new mul­ti­mil­lion-dol­lar ter­mi­nal at the ANR Robin­son In­ter­na­tion­al Air­port, with opin­ions split be­tween ex­cite­ment over its po­ten­tial and con­cerns about its im­pact.

Econ­o­mist Dr Vanus James, in an in­ter­view with Guardian Me­dia, de­scribed the fa­cil­i­ty as a “white ele­phant” and ex­pressed doubts about its abil­i­ty to con­tribute to sus­tain­able de­vel­op­ment on the is­land.

“It is al­most cer­tain this is go­ing to be a white ele­phant for the next 25 to 30 years be­cause the foun­da­tion on which an air­port and any oth­er form of in­fra­struc­ture, sea­port, and so on, can be pro­duc­tive for you will have to be laid pri­or to build­ing the air­port,” James said.