ANDY?ARMSTRONG, president of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCCI), said the chamber was keen on making Barbados the greenest economy in the region and Latin America.
He said he believed it was a goal articulated by Government but it seemed very reluctant to “spread widely” the message.
“Certainly, any minister I talk to says yes, it is still a goal but the average person in Barbados doesn’t even know we have this national goal.
“We have to now start breaking that out and doing what we have to do if we want to be the greenest economy in the Caribbean and Latin America.
“The Chamber of Commerce have set up a green committee and they are looking at the first project to see how we can make the chamber’s building as green as possible.
“Then we want to be able to go to other businesses in Barbados and say, this is the process we follow, this is what it is going to cost, this is what you are going to get a payback for and it makes financial sense,” said Armstrong.
He said there was the whole issue of setting up a wind farm in St Lucy. The businessman said he was certain that Barbados Light & Power was committed to producing some of their energy from renewable sources.
Armstrong further argued that the application for a wind farm had been approved by the Town Planning Department and was now awaiting Government’s approval.
“Cabinet needs to make the decision that this is important for the country and if there are some people who will be inconvenienced, we will relocate those people; or they need to say that the social implications of having wind farms in Barbados are not something we are prepared to deal with and so it is off the table,” suggested Armstrong. (MM)