JCC endorses efforts by the minister for WASA change

Minister of Public Utilities Marvin Gonzales. File photo by Jeff K Mayers
Minister of Public Utilities Marvin Gonzales. File photo by Jeff K Mayers

THE EDITOR: The JCC endorses and commends the ongoing and apparently sustained efforts being made the Minister of Public Utilities and the WASA board members to effect real positive change at WASA. The press report of the “billion-dollar mess” is a stark reality that the construction industry and the public have had to tolerate for too long.

As governments come and go, one constant in this country has been the inefficiency of WASA, sustained in part by endemic institutionalised corruption. We in the construction industry painfully “joke” that the last agency approval that a development obtains is the one from WASA.

There is no doubt that Minister Marvin Gonzales’s efforts at WASA will positively move the World Bank’s 2020 ease of doing business needle from 105 out of 190 countries. This metric has been stagnant since 2017. Equally important would be the impact that it can have on the Corruption Perception Index (Transparency International), which scores TT at 41/100, compared to our neighbour Barbados (65/100).

We also reinforce the call by the minister for the trade unions to join this fight at WASA to actively expose corrupt practices. This will protect the jobs of honest employees and allow WASA to provide more sustainable and efficient water and wastewater services for consumers.

Finally, we remind our members in the construction industry that one corrupt hand cannot clap, so we can help in this process by refraining from paying bribes.

FAZIR KHAN

president

Joint Council for the

Construction Industry

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"JCC endorses efforts by the minister for WASA change"

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