Gov't appoints committee to pick refinery operator

The government has announced that a ten-member committee has been put in place to evaluate bids for the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery.

Meanwhile, the Oilfields Workers Trade Union (OWTU), which put in a bid for the facility, is remaining mum on the committee and its composition.In a media release on Wednesday, Trinidad Petroleum Holdings Ltd (TPHL) said the evaluation committee would choose the “preferred operator” for the refinery.It said, “The Evaluation Committee will be led by permanent secretary in the Ministry of Finance Vishnu Dhanpaul and will evaluate all bidders participating in the Guaracara RFP (including bidders in Stage 1 and Stage 2) and make a recommendation to the Cabinet on the preferred bidder.”TPHL noted that the committee’s appointment meant the board would not have to evaluate bidder and select an operator.

The committee will assume full responsibility for the selection of the preferred bidder, it said, and "consequently, the government has indemnified the board of directors of TPHL from any liability that may stem from the decisions and/or actions of the evaluation committee.”In a phone interview yesterday, OWTU chief education and education research officer Ozzi Warwick said the union could not comment on the committee or its composition, as it is part of the bid process.But he said, “We continue. The Patriotic Energies and Technologies Company Ltd continues to be part of the process.” The Guaracara evaluation committee includes Vishnu Dhanpaul, chairman; Anthony Chan Tack; Claire Gomez-Miller; Joseph Remy; Ian Welsh; Selwyn Lashley; Dale McLeod; Sandra Fraser; Sahid Hosein; and Terrance Bharath.