State asset divestment sparks ‘fire sale’ fears

The Gov­ern­ment’s pro­posed sale of sev­er­al State-owned as­sets has trig­gered sharp crit­i­cism from Op­po­si­tion mem­bers, who warn that the coun­try risks los­ing valu­able na­tion­al hold­ings, while econ­o­mist Dr Ronald Ramkissoon ar­gues that di­vest­ment could ben­e­fit cit­i­zens if the process is trans­par­ent, prop­er­ly struc­tured and aimed at cre­at­ing long-term val­ue.

The is­sue has come in­to fo­cus fol­low­ing Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar’s an­nounce­ment that the Gov­ern­ment plans to di­vest sev­er­al State-owned as­sets, in­clud­ing Na­tion­al Quar­ries Ltd, Hilton Trinidad, the Mag­dale­na Grand Beach and Golf Re­sort, and the La Brea In­dus­tri­al De­vel­op­ment Com­pa­ny Ltd (Labid­co).

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Speak­ing at the sod-turn­ing cer­e­mo­ny for a new $500 mil­lion Mar­riott re­sort at Rocky Point, To­ba­go, on Tues­day, Per­sad-Bisses­sar said the State had a poor track record of op­er­at­ing com­mer­cial en­ter­pris­es, ar­gu­ing that greater pri­vate sec­tor in­volve­ment was need­ed to dri­ve eco­nom­ic growth.