Solomon Islands: Will 2002 see the long-awaited infrastructure much needed?
Charles Hawksley is Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Studies at the University of Wollongong wrote earlier this year in the publication East Asia Focus, quote:
“In a country where the population of around 660,000 is still predominantly rural, (Prime Minister) Sogavare’s focus on completing large-scale infrastructure projects bodes well for the nation’s development. The possible addition of China to Solomon Islands’ existing aid donor mix would likely result in new infrastructure projects.”
Diplomatic ties between the Solomon Islands and China are now in place and one waits to see what “new infrastructure projects’ will take place in the year ahead and in the subsequent years of the DCGA’s term in office.
Being a close observer of the Solomon Islands for many years I know of the vital importance of developments to improve the livelihoods of the people and improve the economic prospects of the country.
The government’s 100-Days Policy Framework recognised that internally-focussed development — built on an expanding domestic population and growing internal markets — could induce long-term, sustainable growth. Stronger infrastructure through improved road and maritime transport linking rural and urban sectors could help to consolidate economic growth, as well as enhance urban food security in Honiara.
Seven months on since the incumbent government came into office, I guess some, like myself, are impatient to see change, especially in job creation and in improvements in the health sector in particular.
Bejing issued a statement at the start of the new relationship by saying it would bring unprecedented opportunities for developments for the Solomon Islands, but cited a Chinese expression meaning that everything will happen at the right time. “When a melon is ripe, it falls off its stem; and when water flows, a channel is formed.”
Will 2020 be the right time?
In the same article I quoted, Hawksley wrote:
“RAMSI aimed to induce economic development through engagement with the global market and promoting tourism and export crops. Solomon Islands exports are now over 10 times their 2000 value, and export agriculture now accounts for 10.9 per cent of exports. Despite this growth, the main exports remain rough wood (68 per cent), and processed fish (7.5 per cent), neither of which is sustainable in the long term.”
The long-term obstacles to exporting rough wood and processed fish could, perhaps, be overcome if tourism takes off, as predicted, and the country specializes in large scale exports of fruit and cash crops producing relatively high return, such as coconuts, kava, vanilla and ginger, much in demand in China and the United States.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
