Public Utilities Minister defends Met Office, WASA

PUBLIC Utilities Minister Marvin Gonzales has dismissed claims by Princes Town MP Barry Padarath that the TT Meteorological Service has been neglected in recent years.

He also rejected reiterated claims by Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh of an alleged plan to fire 2,500 workers from the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA).

Gonzales made these statements during a meeting of the Standing Finance Committee of the House of Representatives on Friday.

During that meeting, the committee approved expenditure of $2,572,761,000 for the Public Utilities Ministry in the 2022/2023 budget.

Referring to allocations of $4.7 million and $821,000 for what he described as allocations for infrastructure and the purchase of minor equipment respectively for the Met Service, Padarath alleged that the service was "left to run down." He wondered whether this was right, given the bad weather TT experienced this week.

Gonzales disagreed, and praised the Met Office for continuing to perform yeoman service.

"As far as I am concerned as minister, I am quite happy with the work that they continue to do."

Gonzales told MPs, "What we are actually doing here is to ensure that as we move towards the next five-ten years, that we make use of all the necessary equipment, technology etc (to forecast weather conditions)

He said people need to understand that "the weather patterns that we have been experiencing over the last five years is very troubling."

Gonzales added, "It is very, very important that the work of the Met Office is scrutinised."

The Met Service must also be properly resourced to do its work efficiently so it can continue to provide reliable information on changing weather patterns.

"That is a key function of their responsibility."

Gonzales said, "We ought to be very happy that the Government of TT is of the view that the Met Services Division should continue to play a critical role in the (public) utilities sector."

Later in the meeting, Gonzales rejected reiterated claims by Indarsingh about an alleged plan to fire 2,500 WASA workers as part of a transformation of the authority. WASA rejected these claims in a statement on Monday.

Reminding MPs that the plan has been public knowledge for some time and was approved by Cabinet, Gonzales said, "The transformation plan is taking place."

He also reminded them the plan will see "some staff rationalisation at the managerial level."

Gonzales said a more efficient WASA would not have the types of expenditure it now has. He disclosed the authority is examining a virtual guard system for its installations which involves increased use of technology to secure facilities, as opposed to having guards physically on site.

The proposed system would involve establishing command centres in different areas and security teams that would respond to incidents at WASA installations. Gonzales said WASA security officers would be integrated into that system.

In response, Padarath said he would wait to see this initiative materialise.

He also dismissed claims by opposition MPs that his ministry was trying to prevent people from asking the Regulated Industries Commission (RIC) whether there would be any increases in water or electricity rates.

After several opposition MPs pleaded for water for communities in their constituencies and Gonzales assured them their concerns would be addressed, Speaker Bridgid Annisette-George told the former that the Standing Finance Committee was not the forum for those requests.

She reminded them about her advice when the sitting began hours earlier.

"What about the efficiency point?"