THE $45 MILLION to be spent on refurbishing the back area of the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre for Government offices and a high-rise car park should be instead used to shore up the country's struggling tourism sector, Opposition Leader Mia Mottley suggested yesterday.

Speaking in the House of Assembly, Mottley noted that the Government has apparently not realised that the 400 jobs to be created by the capital works for the centre project is a far cry from the 10 000 jobs that needed to be protected in the tourism sector, which continues to decrease across the board.

The Opposition Leader again made the call for Government to defer its Constituency Councils project, noting it would save taxpayers $6 million dollars which could be better used to keep persons employed and help the sectors be more productive.

Mottley, the Member of Parliament for St Michael North-East, made the suggestion during her 15-minute presentation on a debate to move a resolution to grant $68 million from the Consolidated Fund and place it at the disposal of Government to supplement the 2009-10 Estimates.

"Barbadians are showing concern regarding all the sectors of the economy. We knew projected figures would be down because of the recession, but it is clear the results of the Prime Minister's budget are now being seen," Mottley claimed.

She said she gladly supported Government's decision to start up a Tourism Industry Relief Fund, but was far from satisfied with the way it has been implemented.

She claimed that only $15 million was made available to the hotel sector and its ancillary services between January and March although $39 million worth of claims had been made. Mottley added that the resulting $24 million deficit only made it harder for Government to deal with more claims for the period April to June, when the claim was $48 million. (BA)