Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce president Diane Hadad is adopting a wait-and-see approach to the Government’s plan to reopen the construction sector at the end of the month.

At a news conference on Saturday at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s, the Prime Minister, in light of slowly declining covid19 infections, said the Government plans to gradually reopen the economy.

Dr Rowley said the construction sector, which employs a large percentage of the workforce, will be the first to reopen.

“In terms of coming out cautiously, the next item that we are likely to take is bringing out the construction sector. I trust by then that a significant number of construction workers would have been vaccinated,” he said at the briefing.

An estimated 15,000 people in the sector have been vaccinated.

In Tobago, vaccinations for construction workers began on June 12 at the Magdalena Grand Beach and Golf Resort, Lowlands, and continued there last week Thursday and Friday.

In an interview with Newsday on Tuesday, Hadad was cautiously optimistic about the move to reopen the sector.

“I guess from the construction sector’s standpoint, it sounds positive, but let’s see, from a realistic standpoint, what that will bring to the table economically,” she said.

Hadad said the measures implemented to prevent the spread of covid19 have crippled economic activity on the island.

“Of course, a lot of people are home not earning money, which (is) a burden even for the business community, because even people who are trying to pay any type of salary or stipend, it is damning on their already no-income business. So it is going to cause distress either way.”

Hadad said she looks forward "to whatever changes that need to be made in a positive direction.

“Because the economics has crashed and that is the reality.”

Hadad wondered what led to the decision to reopen the construction sector.

“In light of the fact that it is happening two weeks before the planned date for the reopening of the borders (mid-July), it leads us to wonder what has happened different or what has caused the change.”

She noted that food outlets remain closed.

“We really haven’t seen or heard anything about the food outlets being reopened, which, like some of the other sectors, are also deemed non-essential but, frankly speaking, are quite essential.”