TT getting its just reward

THE EDITOR: Your contributor, Mr Ian Ramdhanie, wrote an excellent letter in which he questioned whether the country is earning what it should from the exploitation of its oil and gas resources.

I chair the Trinidad and Tobago Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) Steering Committee that provides oversight of the extractive sectors Industries (oil, gas, and mining) to address those very concerns so as to ensure the protection of the people’s patrimony and our children’s inheritance derived from the country’s natural resources. I can confirm that we have identified the same concerns described and, working with the Auditor General, we expect to see improvements made in the very near future to the practices and procedures employed by the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries.

Our annual EITI Reports (www.tteiti.org.tt) show that, in general, the country is receiving its just dues but there is evidence of some leakage and the reports list recommendations that, if adopted by government, would result in an increase in revenue collections. Given the financial challenges the country currently faces, we are hopeful that the EITI’s and Auditor General’s recommendation will be adopted without any further delay.

Victor Hart via email