Manufacturing sector to get ‘shot in the arm’ – SKNLP Manifesto

BEEFING-UP THE MANUFACTURING SECTOR, boosting job creation and bracing the small grants scheme tossed aside by the Timothy Harris seven-year administration are key supporting pillars of the St Kitts Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP).

The party will also sharpen its focus on attracting foreign direct investments in its 2022-2027 term in office after it regains power following Friday’s polls the party manifesto under the theme ‘Better with Labour’, launched last week said.

The manifesto said SKNLP wants to “attract at least two new five-star hotels,” in the next five years.

Park Hyatt St Kitts, Four Seasons Resort Nevis and Sunset Reef St. Kitts rank among the top 10 hotels in the twin island Leeward Islands Caribbean nation of some 53,000 inhabitants.

This dual-island nation is nestled between the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea and is legendary for its “cloud-shrouded mountains and beaches,” according to publicly-available information Google.

Many of the former sugar plantations, legacy of its colonial past, have been transformed into inns to help boost its tourism-dependent sector.

According to the SKNLP manifesto, when it becomes the new government, the administration will spearhead creating new green jobs by establishing “stronger Public/Private Partnerships,” (PPPs).

The PPPs will be the engine “for the development of a recycling plant, and factories manufacturing parts for solar panels, water catchment tanks” its manifesto explained.

It further explained the new administration will also champion development of an active fisheries Industry by “constructing several seafood processing plants in key fishing towns and villages such as Old-Road Bay and Dieppe Bay.”

The SKNLP will re-introduce the Small Grants Scheme which will provide up to EC$100,000 for farmers and guarantees that “both the St. Kitts and the Nevis Investment Promotion Agencies are well resourced and equipped to actively pursue foreign direct investment partnerships to the Federation.”

It also plans to boost exports with its foreign partners, and the manifesto envisages introducing a new centralise export marketing agency for its farm and seafood goods.

The SKNLP foresees creating a digitised economy to enhance its regional and global competitiveness reasoning that its production, deliver of goods and timely payment for same and the scale of capital to operate globally, and human capital requirements will help give it some advantage.

By their nature, digital economies help firms eliminate aspects of the now crisis-ridden retail chain and businesses send their goods directly from factory or warehouse rather than through middle operators. This strategy helps lower costs and lower prices.

When it retakes the reins of government, the SKNLP also said in its manifesto that it plans investing in agro-tourism and local agro-processing to reduce slash its food import bill drastically.

Also, on the cards, are plans to “legalise and stimulate a medical Marijuana industry,” the party manifesto said.