Chief Sec: Tobago benefited from Trini company building roads

THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine said Tobago has benefited in a number of ways despite Trinidad company California Stucco Ltd being awarded the contract to construct the Smithsfield-Dutchfort connector roads in Scarborough.

The Charlieville-based company completed the entire project with its own money.

Augustine said this is because the THA simply did not have enough money in its development budget to carry out the project, which links the communities of Mt Marie and Dutchfort.

Last week, THA Minority Leader Kelvon Morris urged the THA to come clean about the project after it had awarded the company the contract within 24 hours of receiving its proposal.

The project began on October 7 and was completed on October 26.

At the opening of the connector roads on Friday, Augustine told a small audience, “Many of you are unaware that the THA paid zero dollars and zero cents to have the roads that you are driving on today.”

He said the first payment is due in July 2023, and the second in April 2024.

“In other words, that contractor that had to do this work had to have their own money up front.”

Augustine said the contractor also used Tobago workers and equipment from hardwares on the island.

“I am sure the cost of material from the hardware is substantially cheaper in Trinidad than it is in in Tobago, but they used all Tobago products to execute this work with their own money. That is the nature of the contract of these two connector roads that you are seeing here.”

He said the same model is being used on all of the THA’s road infrastructure projects currently being undertaken.

“Because you will appreciate, you are coming to the end of the fiscal year, we inherited a fiscal year that was already started and did not have any $300 million for development anywhere, because they (the previous PNM administration) spent most of it on careless projects in the lead up to an election.

“And given the constraints we have with funding for development, we have to continuously use some of these alternative financing mechanisms in order to get projects completed.”