News
Indian High Commissioner visits Turks & Caicos with praises and encouragements for the local Indian Community
By Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, June 17, 2022 – Indian High Commissioner, to Jamaica H.E. Mr. Masakui Rungsung visited the Turks and Caicos on June 5th and had encouraging words for the Indian community in the islands.
Rungsung who serves as the High Commissioner to Jamaica, The Bahamas, the Cayman Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands met with the small but vibrant Indian community in the TCI which numbers about 250 people.
He restated his country’s commitment to its diaspora, stressing that if the Indian community in the TCI needed anything they only had to communicate it.
“My officers will definitely call you back, or drop in a message, we might be engaged somewhere else or because of the time difference; but if you drop in a message we’ll definitely call you back.”
He assured them that they were important, noting that when they did well overseas it was not brain drain but ‘brain gain.’
He also said that the small community had to treat each other well and remain tight knit, encouraging them to form an association, register at the High Commission’s website and even create a WhatsApp group for expeditious replies and stronger relationships.
The Ambassador, who also facilitated a mix and mingle at the Palms Resort was also welcomed to the country by Hon Otis Morris, Home Affairs minister and Hon E. Jay Saunders, Deputy Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands.
The meeting with the Indian community preceded a meeting with TCI Premier, Hon Washington Misick which was also scheduled for the three-day visit.
H.E. Rungsung, who was accompanied by his wife and other staff from the High Commission’s office, maintained that there must be duality in Indian members of the TCI family.
“You come from India and your roots are there. You preserve those traditions but adapt and live with the people where you have settled down,” he said.
In an exclusive with Magnetic Media, the High Commissioner divulged that the recent official visit of the Ram Nath Kovind, President of the Republic of India to Jamaica was a signal for the entire region.
“There is a commitment from the government of India towards the small island countries. It is important for us to partner with the smaller countries on disaster management because of climate change and several other issues…We are committed to partnering with this region.”
Referencing India’s willingness to share vaccines in the Covid-19 pandemic as an example, he described the Caribbean and India as a family,
“Unless we can save all the family members then the family cannot be saved. Whenever there are issues in a country we are happy to donate, we’ll reach out to all countries including this one,” he explained.
While there was no monetary investment in the cards for the Turks and Caicos, Rungsung said, “I think we’ll always find a way depending on what the requirements of this island are to see what kind of assistance we can give.”
In the meantime he informed of training programs fully sponsored by the Indian Government and during discussions with the premier, the Indian High Commission said he would encourage the TCI government make them available to Islanders.
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, April 19, 2024 – In an attempt to move to 24-hour-a-day operations Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority (TCIAA) is steadily recruiting Air Traffic Controllers to work at the Providenciales/Howard Hamilton International Airport, according to Godfrey Smith, TCIAA CEO, reporting to the Appropriations Committee.
Speaking on April 8th Smith said a cabinet paper would be sent soon requesting six more Air Traffic Controllers to make round the clock operation at the Provo International possible and to open the airport in Grand Turk till 12 a.m.
Currently, 17 posts are filled and seven are vacant.
Smith was candid with his responses to recent industrial action from ATCs which led to resignations and firings.
“What we have to do is find systems to mitigate such actions and that has to start with filling these jobs, putting people in that want to
work and doing right by people – and we always try to do right by our staff. Persons may not think that we are but we always do – we ain’t pick no fight,” he said in the meetings held at the NJS Francis building ahead of the National Budget Communication.
Smith indicated that recruitment was an issue across the board, ‘we need to find ways to recruit a little bit better’ he told the committee. Also in need of a push was capital spending or projects according to the CEO, who said the agency had ‘not been very good’ at meeting that mark but insisted they had recognized the issue and could do better.
A very important key performance indicator drawn up by the TCIAA is increasing passenger satisfaction at the Howard Hamilton International Airport. For the TCIAA part of this means a 30 percent increase in seating by Q2 of this year.
When queried on if they could even handle this increase the CEO said,
“The fact of the matter is we already have the capacity there. What we need is to make the service a bit better.”
Staff shortages have become such a frustrating issue that the TCIAA is instituting a scholarship program created by Authority Chairman, Selvyn Hawkins
“What the board wants to do is basically allocate $25,000 annually for a scholarship and they’ve approved it already.”
This process would cover tuition and all other costs for one student.
The student would return as a summer intern and other breaks to work at the TCIAA and upon graduation, assume a role at the company.
“We identify a particular skill we need, we go after it and we build capacity that is in a nutshell the nexus of the program,” Smith said.
The Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority (TCIAA) is allocated $49 million this financial year; over $20 million goes to salaries.
Company delivers fastest speeds nationwide and boosts service reliability
PROVIDENCIALES, TURKS AND CAICOS, APRIL 19th, 2024 – More connections, faster speeds and greater support for customers. This is the promise from communications and entertainment provider, Flow TCI, as it embarks on an initiative to provide households with enhanced connections, greater overall reliability and now, for the first time, speeds up to one gigabit person second.
FLOW TCI Country Manager, Joanne Missick shared: “Our customers are at the heart of everything we do. We listen to our customers and want to exceed their demands, so we are focused on delivering unmatched value with customer centric products and services that are future proof. Flow subscribers on our Fibre Extreme package can now access up to one gigabyte speeds and subscribers on our Fibre Plus and Fibre Max package, as of April 1st, are also now benefitting from up to 5x more speeds.”
This is third speed boost for Flow customers in the last two years. This comes under the umbrella of the the Company’s recently launched “Working for You” campaign, where technicians are going into the neighborhoods across the island to conduct repairs, decommission copper cables, and increase the brand’s visibility in local communities.
“To date several neighborhoods have been served by technicians and the company will continue to go across the islands to ensure each neighborhood receives personal attention. We recognize that over the past few months some customers have experienced issues with the quality and delivery of our services. This is not what we stand for. Flow remains committed to providing technology and innovation
that enables growth and positively impacts lives”, says, newly appointed Head of Technical Operations, Simeon Thomas.
Thomas adds, “We have been closely monitoring and reviewing every aspect of our network and there is room for improvement across each of the islands. Where we find shortcomings, we are taking concrete actions and assigning our technicians to rapidly make all necessary adjustments and improvements for our customers”.
Flow has made significant investments in expanding and modernizing its infrastructure and delivering a more robust and reliable network paving the way for the country’s digital transformation.
For more information on speed increases visit https://www2.discoverflow.co/turks-and-caicos/price-adjustment-speed-increase on our website.
Thank you for your usual assistance in sharing our stories.
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