Barbarons boardwalk – who will benefit at the State’s expense?
“The boardwalk at Barbarons leading into a mangrove habitat which provides shelter to an assortment of flora and fauna has been re-opened after months of renovation work” so says the government. In actual fact the entire boardwalk has been reconstructed since the old one was rotten to the core and fell into disuse.
But the decision of the Ministry of Environment to spend hard pressed government funds to rebuild the boardwalk for the benefit of mostly of tourists who pay top dollars to come to the hotel next door defies imagination. It is also a reflection of the nature of the thinking behind government policy under the ruling party.
The Barbarons Hotel used to belong to the State, a legacy of the one-party socialist era. Not so long ago, the parastatal run by Mr Mukesh Valabhji, the controversial former economic advisor of President France Albert Rene, which owned the property decided to sell it under a semi-secret privatisation programme. Without the benefit of public tender the Barbarons Hotel was “privatised” to Airtel, a telecom company which itself obtained a telecom license in a backroom arrangement without the process of public tender.
Airtel paid for the hotel in local currency which it accumulated while being unable to repatriate its profits or even repay its external debts due to the foreign exchange crisis. The shareholders of Airtel, and by extension Barabrons Hotel, are known business associates of Mr Valabhji.
Barbarons Hotel has now been given not only tax concessions to refurbished its premises, but also business tax concessions. In addition it enjoys the right to keep its foreign currency earnings – at least a good proportion of it. Now it has been given a new boardwalk paid for by public funds so its guests can enjoy mother nature in style, while Airtel accumulates more local currency. If this is not freakonomics then what is?