Sport Ministry owes money to TTEC, MTS and WASA

ISSUES of security at the National Aquatic Centre, Couva, were raised at a Public Administration and Appropriation Committee at parliament yesterday, as officials from the Sports Company of TT (SporTT) and the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs called for an increase in funding to better secure sporting facilities in TT.

Responding to questions posed by Opposition Senator Wade Mark over an apparent lack of security at the Couva facility, acting permanent secretary in the Ministry of Sport Farook Hosein confirmed there were only five MTS security guards assigned to the building at any given time and said the ministry could not afford more guards at this time.

“The issue is one of financial resources and the cost of security.

“There is a significant outstanding amount that SporTT owes to the MTS, that is $12 million.

“Clearly this cannot be paid out of $60 million allocation for the current fiscal year because the expenditure is already around $59 million so it has to come out from next year’s allocation and we plead with the Ministry of Finance for funding so our sporting assets can be maintained and secured.”

For his part SporTT CEO Jason Williams agreed that security and maintenance were among the issues facing various sporting facilities throughout TT and said he hoped to minimise debt while improving the quality and productivity at these facilities.

“Almost all of the facilities that SporTT is in control of has issues with security and it comes back to our underlying problem so we are hoping to get some resources to liquidate some of the debt so we can move forward properly.”

In addition to money owed to MTS, Mark also claimed SporTT also owed an arrears of $10 million to the TT Electricity Commission (TTEC), however Hosein said while he could not quote the exact figure he was aware the company did owe a “significant” amount of money for electricity.

Mark also requested a total breakdown of money owed by the Ministry for different services to be submitted for the committee in writing.