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11th March 2010
Concern Over Water shortage

THE EDITOR,
The St. Lucia Employers’ Federation wishes to express its concern with the effect that the current water shortage is having on its members, particularly in the north of the island.
The crisis affects all sectors of the economy, but is particularly costly to employers who must bear the burden of the additional cost of trucking water to their premises while being unable to adjust their prices to recover these costs. In addition, employers have been granting time off to staff on compassionate grounds, to enable them to fill their containers when water becomes available, further increasing their costs of operations.
This crisis we believe is a wake-up call, as for much too long we have procrastinated over the future of WASCO. The country must make a commitment to improving the operations of WASCO which can be as viable as LUCELEC, given the same kind of attention. A decision, we believe, has been taken not to privatise WASCO but funding must be found.

 
 

Couldn’t the Government offer shares to the public and guarantee a return on investment of 6% per annum; that’s double the amount on the average bank savings? We are convinced that St. Lucians would invest even more than the 13 Million or so dollars that we were requesting of the investors during the recent bid for privatisation.
WASCO and St. Lucia desperately need this investment which would really privatise the entity, but this is only on condition that Government and its agencies hold no more than 40% of the total shareholding. All predictions indicate longer and more severe droughts, so it is critical that we deal with this issue once and for all. In the meantime we exhort all employers to abide by the conditions of the “Water Emergency” and assist in whichever way possible.
St. Lucia Employers’ Federation

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