PM: We restored Red House and fed the poor

The Prime Minister responded to critics of money spent to restore the Red House and said the seat of Parliament was restored even while the government assisted the poor.

He was speaking at the re-opening of the Red House and the return of the Parliament there on Friday.

"Today is one day that we all as a people can be expected to feel joyous."

Dr Rowley said, in this contentious society the Red House restoration does not find favour with every citizen but the vast majority accept that it does not matter the condition of the country, "there are some things that we have to do.

"And one of those things is to ensure that the Parliament of TT was worthy of the symbol that it represents and it was worthy of the effort that we put out."

“Trinidadians are a travelling people and we go to other people's countries and marvel at their symbolism and their symbols such as the Sydney Opera House in Australia, we spend vacations staring at the Capitol and the Obelisk in Washington, and in London we look at the palace in Westminster and we don't ask how much it cost to maintain."

He continued: "I have seen it said that we should have spent what we did, on renovation here, on social services and feeding the poor. We did both."

The PM was likely referring to criticisms by the Opposition over the use of funds to restore the Red House and Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar who, in the speech preceding him, said the same ease allowed for resources to be released for this project, the many other issues facing citizens in critical areas of education, security, social welfare and health should also be addressed.

Rowley reported that $5 billion was spent on social services and money was spent to renovate and restore the Parliament. The estimated cost of the project by Udecott is $441 million.

He said the Parliament represents us as a people, especially as we have agreed to accept democracy as our system of governance.

He recalled entering the Red House 33 years ago as a "new, if not young, senator" and the innards of the building was already beginning to rot. He said the southern chamber was virtually unusable and soon after had to be boarded up and abandoned.

"If we speak loftily about this democracy and this legacy bequeathed to us in 1962, we also must accept a sense of shame that we have allowed this building to have been in the condition it has been for so many years. But today, we can accept the fact what we needed to do (what we had to do) to get it done."

He said renovation works included going into the basement and the building was now earthquake resistant.

"This building today is in as fine a form as it had been at the time when it was built. It has suffered, like our democracy, setbacks and assaults. But at the end of the day it has stood up as the resilient people of TT."

Rowley said the project was an exercise in restoring the legacy received at independence and was not for vanity. He added, the option to allow the Red House and other heritage buildings to collapse because there was no money to fix them, was not an option that should be followed or is being followed by the people of TT.

He said in the very near future, the public would be advised on the policy of full use of all the heritage buildings and the route from Queen's Royal College (QRC) up to President's House, Queen's Park Savannah, "as a way we can hold up to the world the heritage route of the people of TT." He explained the buildings would be put to use not just symbolically but commercially as well.

He reported that on Thursday Cabinet approved expenditure for repairs and renovation of QRC, the first of the Magnificent Seven set of buildings. He explained that people may not see the problems when they pass on the outside, but inside the iconic building there were areas warded off because they were unsafe for the children.

He thanked all who participated in the project including Udecott, the Finance Ministry, clerk of the House Jacqui Sampson-Meiguel and the Parliament staff.