Inniss pays tribute to new investment in Barbados

Donville Inniss, Minister of Industry, International Business, and Commerce & Small Business Development has praised the team for the investment in Welches St. Thomas.

 

Thursday was the official opening of the modern, fully equipped One Welches, which is the newest commercial office development in Barbados.

 

The Minister reminisced, “I well remember when this area was just a two lane street with a bit of pastureland land around and few houses interspersed with a few commercial activities. Obviously the developers of this project and several others in the area had the vision to acquire the surrounding lands, as well as the skills, determination and capacity to work hard in order to get us to the point now where this Warrens/Welches area is quickly becoming the town centre of choice in our island. 

 

I publicly thank James Edghill, Director of One Welches and his team for this investment. We now stand in what is the tallest and perhaps most luxurious building in my constituency, St. James South. Your work here is a deep manifestation of the faith that you have in your island, its people and its economy.”

 

He stressed, “In order for such investment to flow we must have the right enabling environment. This is always a touchy subject as it can mean different things to different folks. In the case of this project here, I wish to thank the staff of the Ministries of Public Works, Housing and Lands and Finance as well the Town and Planning Dept, Surveyors, Drainage Dept, Environmental Dept and all other public officers who had the vision and made the recommendations to widen the roads here and to install needed infrastructure as well as facilitating the appropriate planning permission to get this and other projects in the area going. We may criticise the public sector for time to time, but it is their collective wisdom and work that often times provide the foundation upon which many private sector ventures succeed in Barbados. In this case such a foundation may both be interpreted literally and figuratively. It is the intention of the GOB to complete the road works and infrastructure along this stretch of road from Warrens to Redman Village. However, I wish to advise you that apart from the millions of dollars spent on works here to date, including roads, roundabouts, drainage and boulder wall for the residents of Welches Grove next door, we now have to provide almost $17 million in funding to acquire lands along this highway for completion of road works. Add to that the actual road works and you begin to appreciate where your taxpayers dollars are going. I leave it to the Ministry of Public Works to make any more definitive statements on the works scheduled for the area.”

 

He added, “Having done such an impressive building it is only fitting that you are able to attract equally fitting tenants. Anchored by world class accounting and advisory services firm Ernst and Young, and supported by Tricor, Regus, First Citizens Investment and Carib LPG, this building well reflects a modern corporate Barbados that is island flavoured but internationally focused.” (NB)