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MPLA on island schedule
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Posted on Aug 12 2004
MPLA is on the island schedule of “little by little” which is OK for building your personal home but the Azmar project is big business and a very important and urgent business. It will take time to get set up just to start making money and if MPLA takes forever to provide the permit, the money from the project will be arriving late and we need it now. I was recently informed that MPLA is having a meeting this Friday to only clarify matters about Azmar’s permit. But I was also under the impression that our senators have asked for Azmar’s permit to be expedited. The MPLA Board does not meet often just like our BOE and none of them can accomplish very much meeting once every four to five weeks, making for very poor business response time.
The Senate has already signed off on the project so MPLA should be doing everything possible to furnish the permit and not just talk it over. Talk is cheap; we need action. I don’t know if the governor has the power but it might be possible to declare a financial emergency with the WTO agreement ending and force MPLA to expedite the permit. We must do something before the garment industry completes its transition and not after the fact, which is what MPLA seems to be waiting for—we call it strategic planning and preparation for a problem that is just around the corner. Delays will only create a longer gap in our recovery time from the losses in the garment industry. MPLA, please stop the “little by little” approach and get on the business because the longer you delay the further we get behind in our response to shoring up our economy. One people, one direction.
Ambrose M. Bennett
Kagman High School
