A speaker from India at the Waterford Chamber Conference on city competitiveness Shaleen Singhai says that Waterford city should be the power house of the south east with a university and be a dynamic growth centre.
It has the location, the infrastructure with motorway and airport, but with Stronger partnerships could achieve more
A challenge he feels is to have more vitality in the city and create more new revenue streams.
A high quality skill base is needed so a university is essential a point noted later by a Derry speaker, Aideen McGinley.
Waterford also needs to engage with more cities like Dublin where there are great transport links and cities in Northern Ireland like Belfast, with the motorway connection and is on east coast too.
The potential needs to be unlocked and sustainable economic development will result.
A pro action planning system is another essential, a difficult proposition in Ireland with the appeals process.
He has studied, Belfast Glasgow and Liverpool, other port and industrial centres and seen their re generation.
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