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Draft Final Report, 19 th July, 2012
29. REORGANISE AND STRENGTHEN
INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS
29.1 INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK
Currently, as outlined in Ch 12 earlier, the airport and the jetty
at Little Bay come under the responsibility of the Ministry of
Communication & Works. There is no airport or seaport
authority responsible for the management of the access
infrastructure.
Under Scenarios B and C, with the planned development of a
seaport at Carr’s Bay and the commissioning of a sea ferry
and Twin Otter, there will be a need to have dedicated
organization responsible for overall management of access
transport to and from Montserrat covering both the
infrastructure and services. This is the lesson from the
experience of other islands in the Caribbean (and in countries
worldwide) where the responsibility for access transport is
usually vested in separate or joint air and sea port authorities.
These authorities are usually state owned enterprises, but
operate on a commercial basis and have, subject to
government approval, the statutory powers to raise funds by
way of loans, debentures or other means, in addition to
revenue generation by way of departure and other forms of
passenger taxes and freight charges.
We recommend the establishment of a Montserrat Air & Sea
Ports Authority, with responsibility for access transport
infrastructure (airport and seaport) and services. This implies
that the Authority will be proactive in promotion of air services,
ferry services and cruise ship calls to Montserrat.
29.2 MONTSERRAT TOURIST BOARD’S STATUTORY
FUNCTIONS AND OPERATIONS
The MTB’s statutory position was reviewed in Ch 12 earlier.
Essentially, the Act setting up the MTB is a sound piece of
legislation which should stand the test of time in that it is
flexible enough to deal with any changed circumstances which
may require the MTB to undertake different activities for the
development of tourism.
However, one of the operations of the MTB – the Culture Unit
- is anomalous, in that the MTB is responsible for the
operations of the Unit, but does not have the statutory function
to do so. We recommend that this situation is regularized by
means of an amendment to the 1993 Act setting up the MTB,
which would empower the MTB with responsibility for cultural
affairs.
29.3 ORGANISATION AND OPERATIONS OF THE MTB
One of the important lessons from the performance of TDP 2
is that the organization and operations of the MTB must reflect
not just the issues confronting the tourism sector, but also the
scale of the industry itself. The implication is that the
organizational structure and operations of the MTB, going
forward, must reflect the growth path of the tourism sector.
MONTSERRAT TOURISM DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2012 – 2022
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