News
Salt Cay, the forgotten paradise
#TurksandCaicos, January 20, 2023 – The often-overlooked island of Salt Cay located in Turks and Caicos Islands, is definitely one not to be missed while planning your next getaway.
In those mundane or difficult moments; and your looking to unwind and soak in the sun, this is the island of your dreams. One can literally transport themselves back in time and enjoy the glistening, turquoise waters that surround this tiny island called Salt Cay.
Many readers including myself, enjoy articles from the “Spot light on Salt Cay” by Candy Herwin, weekly photos of the Salt Cay ferry to and from the island, Destination Salt Cay by my good friend, journalist Titus De Boer who also covers a wide range of topics. 
Their excerpts capture different points of view and give you a glimpse of life on the island, its history, challenges and the attempts to keep hope alive.
Granted, on a few occasions I visited the island, this time it was different. After taking my family on a day trip to the island a few months ago, I was still amazed by the welcoming and positive attitude of the people, yet disheartening because of the lack of opportunity for the handful of residents still clinging unto their customs and traditions.
The visit brought back so many fond memories of my childhood growing up in Middle Caicos. What’s so striking about Salt Cay is the quaintness, genuine hospitality and pure natural beauty that draws visitors in.
Apart from the tranquility, it’s also one of the few long-standing cluster of inhabited sister islands that can proudly say they have had zero reported heinous crimes. Despite all the challenges, the island still remains pure and breathtakingly beautiful.
For a moment, I thought to myself, with the Capital only 7 miles away, why is it taking so long to integrate such a charm of an island? I believe the answer is quite obvious, it’s the lack of investment due in part to limited transportation to and from the island.
Over the years, this has forced many of the residents to relocate to Grand Turk and elsewhere to find work.
From my understanding, the government is currently subsidizing one of the local airlines to provide 3 flights a week and the local ferry boat 3 times a week to the island.
This is wonderful; however, given the limited available resources on the island, what the government failed to realize is, apart from whale watching, great fishing sites, spectacular beaches, there is not much to do on the island in terms of activities that will attract the majority of visitors for any sustained length of time.
Instead, what appears to be happening is little by little, the island is being sold out to the highest foreign bidder and elites who can afford to make it their second home.
Before all of the affordable real estate is gone, government should seriously look at other alternatives to assist residents who would love to remain on this particular island, but it’s not financially feasible to do so.
For the benefit of the next generation, we should avoid selling out the interests of this island for the sake of perceived economic stability for some. Why not put more effort into energizing the tourism sector in this gem of an island? It’s not that difficult and we are not expecting overnight success.
As a prime example, let’s take a look at the island of North Caicos. The airport there has been decommissioned for years, but the convenience of having daily ferry services to and from the island of Providenciales, has dramatically boosted tourism which is now spilling over into Middle Caicos.
Residents there have the option of either living or working between the two islands. This could very well be the playbook for Salt Cay.
With so many of the residents in Grand Turk having roots in Salt Cay, I would imagine some long for that day to come when they will be afforded the opportunity currently available to the residents of North Caicos, Middle Caicos and Provo.
With the hustle and bustle lifestyle in Providenciales to include the uptick in crime, this particular island like a few others will become more attractive to tourists. With that being said, how do we make the tourism product more attractive in Salt Cay?
Perhaps, a starting point could be providing more convenient transportation services to and from the island to help support the infrastructure development.
A cost-benefit analysis should also be done to determine whether it would be more advantageous to temporarily
reduce the number of flights to the island and increase subsidies for daily ferry operations.
It could result in a twofold benefit. One, it forces tourists to fly to Grand Turk giving a boost to that economy and then having the option of taking a day trip to the island of Salt Cay for self discovery.
Secondly, cruise ship passengers and locals alike will have an opportunity to leave in the morning and return in the evening. This will open new doors for development on the island. Perhaps, a frequent travelers discount card can also be applied. In addition, various cultural activities can be planned to attract visitors and locals alike.
In my opinion, it would also be prudent for the government to identify certain real estate on the island that should be protected and or preserved. This could include but not limited to government buy back of land if need be. It will help to avoid a total sell off or depletion of prime property that the country will later regret.
From a recently published Crown land review consultant paper 2022, it showed that the Turks and Caicos Islands as a whole, is facing a serious Crown land crisis with only 23% of usable Crown land remaining.
Albeit, there appears to be a breakthrough from the long-awaited review of the management of Crown Land in the Turks and Caicos Islands. What would be beneficial to citizens is a follow up town hall style meeting to provide a debriefing on the nuts and bolts of the findings and recommendations.
I truly believe that in due course, the increased government subsidies towards the transportation sector on this island will be money well spent. The end result is happier residents and more opportunities to showcase this coveted destination to potential investors and local entrepreneurs.
Ed Forbes
Concerned citizen of Grand Turk
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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