Chambers chime in on government restructuring: A good start

AS the new government continues to settle in, several changes are being noticed.

One of those changes were reported in local newspapers on May 28, with Udecott, the state-owned company that has responsibility for the building, upkeep and maintenance of national buildings such as the office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Education Towers the Maracas Beach facility and Carenage fishing facility will now be under the remit of the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure.

Another noticeable change is the movement of the Community-Based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (Cepep) is now under the remit of the Ministry of Public Utilities.

Business representatives are expressing hopefulness over these changes, saying that the adjustments could work wonders on efficiency in these entities and loosen bottlenecks.

Confederation of Regional Business Chambers chairman Vivek Charran said moving Udecott to the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure was a good start to focusing on infrastructural challenges in TT.

“It is able to mobilise and get jobs done faster,” he said. “Perhaps this is a sign that if the ministry is being given more responsibilities it could be an indication of what budget is coming to them.”

“When we are looking at the situation in very busy areas, particularly downtown Port of Spain and these commercial areas, we understand that things like the Parkade provide very important services.

“These places are not only for some of the larger corporations that use the space to park, but also the service is available for people coming into Port of Spain because they have things to do, either administratively or because they are coming to shop in Port of Spain.

“Because of the wrecking situation in Port of Spain, it is not always easy to find parking.”

Chaguanas Chamber of Commerce president Baldath Maharaj said both the Udecott and Cepep were sensible and overdue moves. Responding to Business Day, Maharaj said the Chaguanas chamber is cautiously optimistic over the possible effects that the changes would have on infrastructure on the whole.

“Good governance begins with structure. If these enterprises are now more clearly aligned with the core mandates of the ministries in charge, we can expect more effective oversight, streamlined decision making, and ultimately better outcomes for citizens and businesses alike.”

“Aligning Udecott with the Ministry of Works creates a more cohesive framework for the implementation of public infrastructure projects. Likewise, placing Cepep under Public Utilities reflects a more logical fit, particularly given Cepep’s contribution to environmental maintenance and community services.”

The Minister of Public Utilities is Barry Padarath, meanwhile, Minister of Works and Infrastructure Jearlean John was once the chairman of Udecott.

Udecott is a state-owned enterprise with the mission of stimulating national development by transforming urban landscapes in a sustainable manner.

The company specialises in project development, facilities management and commercial management.

Likewise, Cepep is an agency which develops, implements and manages projects that protect, enhance and beautifies areas around TT that could be considered as environmental work areas.

The company focuses on environmental clean-up, beautification and maintenance; disaster and emergency response; waste removal and eco-site management.

Questions were sent to Udecott's administration, but corporate communications manager Roxanne Stapleton-Whyms advised that the company is currently awaiting the appointment of its board and responses to media questions would resume subsequently.

Cepep's officials declined to comment on the move.

Deeper reform, focus needed

Both Maharaj and Charran said more focus on efficiency and a focus on key issues affecting businesses such as infrastructure, along with more reforms for better efficiency across all state enterprises would be helpful.

“There is room for deeper reform,” he said. “To further improve operational efficiency across all state enterprises, we must modernise procurement processes, reduce bureaucratic redundancies and introduce performance-based metrics across the board. This is also a chance to implement better digital infrastructure to monitor outputs in real time.”

Charran said inter-ministerial co-operation is key to addressing some issue that business has. He used Chaguaramas’s yachting industry as one of those that could benefit from inter-ministerial collaboration.

“One of the issues we are having is that we are lagging behind with regard to yachting tourism, because there are challenges with getting immigration approval to come into the ports.”

He said on other islands the process is more efficient – some even give yachties the option of applying for immigration approval over the phone.

“In St Lucia the maritime association has been working with the ministry of trade,” he said. “Here, national security is in charge of immigration. Immigration is also a public service. They are pretty much run by the public service, but it is also different from trade. So in order for that to happen trade will have to work with national security.”

He said collaboration to improve processes in the yachting industry could redound to real foreign exchange (forex) revenue on the ground level for small businesses.

“As soon as a yachtie comes in they are putting in forex in the hands of the boatyard. They are putting it into where they buy food.

“It is a way of bringing in tourism but also a way of putting forex into the hands of actual people.

Charran also called for a focus on infrastructure, not only in major urban areas, but in rural areas as well, where there is a significant number of people who depend on the roads for access and for traffic for small businesses in rural areas.

He mentioned Aranguez, which, last week suffered hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage because of flooding.

“If you go back you will see the condition of these roads. They are in a really bad state, yet these are the roads that join people’s plots for planting.

“The same thing happens in rural areas. If the government wants to be more productive and we want to drive agriculture and local production of food, then certainly land in rural areas becomes more important to the conversation.”

He said access in general to lands where farmers grow produce and raise livestock is also important. He pointed to areas in Sangre Grande and more importantly, the Biche Road which goes from Sangre Grande to Coalmine and into Biche.

“There are a lot of possibilities for a lot of tourism in terms of bird watching etc. It is also a very vital line for people who live in Biche and commute as far as Port of Spain to pass through.”

He also noted that infrastructure on these small roads, particularly the Biche road, contribute to efficiency for larger businesses who need access to farms to transport produce and other local goods.

“When you look at areas where there is a high density of people, there are a lot of people there that would have to commute in and out of those areas to find work. Then certainly maintaining the roads in those areas are important. We are talking about daily wear and tear of people’s vehicles, the cost maintaining vehicles that operate in rural areas.

“When you look at distribution – when you look at blue waters, Carib, all these companies that deal with food and beverage and try to service mini marts and small businesses in these areas, they want to increase their profits and they would want these routes to be affordable. All these things add toward helping businesses to be sustainable and for bigger businesses to extend their roots efficiently and to make money as well.

“When these roads become impassible and no one is going there it will eventually start to affect the bottom line of most of those smaller businesses. When you are passing there and it gets to a certain state people will, inevitably, try to find a safer routes.”