by DONNA SEALY PRIME MINISTER OWEN ARTHUR last night defended the sale of Barbadian land to foreign investors, saying the country had to be able to pay its bills. Alternatives such as casino gambling, legalised prostitution, currency devaluation and private beaches would not be considered by the Government, he said. "We don't want big projects to show off, but to ensure we can pay our bills," he told members of the Barbados Labour Party's (BLP) St James South branch. He added that the country had "so little to work with and so much to gain" and therefore there was a need for innovative ideas. Not the same Agriculture and manufacturing would work, said Arthur, but not the same as years gone by. Current times were challenging, he added, and he could give no assurance that sugar, a $40 million industry, would be able to pay the country's bills in the future. "What will be the new economy that will give you the assurance that wages in the public sector will be paid when they fall due? "The sugar industry is $40 million a year, the public sector wage bill is $700 million a year and I can't tell them at the end of the month [to] hold strain and hold an IOU . . . How will we have our bills paid . . .?" The BLP leader said all across the island the new economy was being developed, involving tourism and services and "once we can get [them] together we can go upmarket". That investment would improve social services in the long run, said Arthur. "We don't have a lot, but we have to make the most of what we have." Stressing he would not be going the route of devaluing the Barbados dollar, licensing casino gambling, legalising prostitution or having private beaches, Arthur said the land could not be treated as "static". He warned that the country was "spending more that we are earning" and he was not inclined to "borrow our way out of it". Arthur noted that the way to deal with the national debt was to "increase our capacity to earn". "All across Barbados we have given the impetus in building a new capacity to earn foreign exchange for this country . . . ," he said. The Prime Minister, who has responsibility for town planning, said that "when people come here they must respect our laws", adding that social surveys must be conducted to show how a project would impact on the environment or the neighbourhood where it would be built. He pointed to two retirement villages in St Peter and a proposed major facility earmarked for St James that would bring foreign exchange and create jobs. On the 75th birthday of the late Prime Minister Tom Adams, Arthur urged the BLP family to join him in the upcoming series of meetings entitled, Conversations With The Nation, starting next Sunday, when they would "talk to the people in our own language". He said his "tongue will be sharpened on both sides" and he would not stand aside and let his party be savaged". "I am thirsty for the campaign trail, I really am," Arthur said. donnasealy @nationnews.com
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