A re-elected Democratic Labour Party (DLP) government will end the garbage and sewage levy that was added to water bills by the current administration.
President and candidate for St Lucy, Verla De Peiza, said there was a plan in place to ease Barbadians pockets.
“The Democratic Labour Party is committed to the reduction of the garbage and sewage levy and its eventual phasing out. There are tidier and more accountable ways to raise the revenue that is required and one of those ways is to diversify our economy. What that will do is give you space in your pockets so that we can get our economy going.”
However, she didn’t go too much into detail stating that more would be revealed when the party officially released its manifesto.
She was speaking on Wednesday night at Checker Hall, St Lucy, during the party’s official launch. The field was transformed into a drive-in facility, allowing Barbadians to listen to the meeting while observing the Covid-19 protocols. Although the meeting was being streamed via social media platforms, constituents still came out with their chairs and umbrellas to listen to what the candidates had planned for the country, if selected for office.
Support for candidate Curtis Cave. (Picture by Lennox Devonish)
Depeiza also expressed concern with the quality of the water and poor public transportation. She said it was time that the “one bus to St Lucy” which “does that scenic tour” be finished. She believed issues such as these should be dealt with for tax paying citizens.
The leader of the party spoke about the entrepreneurial effect in St Lucy and lauded the ‘Moontown’ area. She said constituents should not have to leave the parish to make a living and a programme should be designed for them to create more opportunities, not only for work, but also for leisure time.
Meanwhile former minister of agriculture and candidate for the St Philip west constituency Dr David Estwick said Government was depending too much on the borrowing of money to keep the economy stable.
Estwick, a crowd favorite at political meetings, said “there will be a strategy for a new developmental model that will show how we can use the Central Bank, the private sector and government where we won’t need the type of foreign loans that we are now taking”.
Former minister of tourism and candidate for the St Michael South Central constituency Richard Sealy lauded his party for its performance in the tourism sector while they were in office. Sealy highlighted a number of key projects initially started under the last administration which included the air to sea transport terminal which he considered to be pivotal in the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the beginning of the paving of the airport runway.
He also touched on the delayed Beaches project by Sandals.
“We’re talking about close to 3 000 jobs because the plan was for 550 suites that could accommodate families and there was a need to employ extra staff to handle that kind of traffic.” (AC)