Roxborough Complex nearing completion

Secretary of Infrastructure Kwesi Des Vignes says the Roxborough Administrative Complex is 98 per cent completed and within budget.

Speaking at Wednesday’s post Executive Council media briefing at the Division of Tourism in Scarborough, Des Vignes said the project, which was commissioned in September 2017 and estimated at $46 million, was “currently well within the budgeted sum and we are making some adjustments to ensure that the building is of the highest standard for the people in the East and Roxborough.

“We’re ensuring that the building can of course stand up to the very corrosive environment, so we’re using a thermochromics finish and a limestone plaster so that the building would not need to be repainted in a short time. We’re also ensuring that the necessary works are done to preserve and prevent corrosion to the metal elements,” he said.

The project is being managed by the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago (UDeCOTT) with a Tobago contractor, Towers Consortium Consultants Limited.

“That Tobago contractor utilised 80 per cent of labour from the area.

“So we’re seeing where these types of major developments on the island are not only going to benefit us in the long term with the services that would be available in the east but also in the short to medium terms where persons were able to be employed, gainfully employed,” he said.

He said the two-storey structure would house office space for various Tobago House of Assembly (THA) departments - Social Welfare, Election and Boundaries Commission and Immigration. Various service providers such as T&TEC, TSTT, and WASA would also be accommodated, and retail space would be made available for entrepreneurs.

Des Vignes said an annex would house a market, cafeteria, barber shop and public restrooms facilities.