Economist: Contractors must be paid billions owed

ECONOMIST Indera Sagewan wants government to deal with the issue of billions of dollars reportedly owed to contractors, warning that the long-delayed payments have eroded confidence, damaged firms and weakened one of the country’s most important economic multipliers.

Speaking at the Trinidad and Tobago Contractors Association's (TTCA) annual awards dinner at the Radisson, Port of Spain, on November 15, she said the industry carried the burden of the country’s financial and logistical shocks for too long and deserves better as the State seeks to drive an aggressive construction-led recovery.

Sagewan, a Central Bank director, stressed at the outset that she was speaking solely in her personal capacity as an economist.

She framed the construction sector as standing “at an inflexion point,” with unprecedented opportunity on the horizon but also with long-standing structural wounds that must be repaired.

“No one here needs reminding that the past few years have been exceptionally difficult,” she said, referencing the period when contractors faced soaring shipping and materials costs triggered by global supply shocks after the pandemic, prolonged supply-chain volatility, and significant payment delays.

“The billions owed to contractors by the State are not just numbers on a ledger. They represent deferred livelihoods, stalled projects and broken confidence. I stand with you tonight and say, time for that is done.”

Her comments echoed years of industry concern.

During and after covid, the cost of steel, concrete, PVC, aggregates, and freight surged between 20 and 80 per cent globally, while TT contractors reported months-long delays in receiving materials.

At the same time, government arrears to contractors – which relevant groups have estimated to be in the billions – left several firms downsizing and shuttering projects.

Sagewan called for a reset in State-industry relations as the new administration rolls out its Revitalisation and Economic Transformation Blueprint and the projects outlined in the 2026 national budget.

She described the blueprint as “that long-awaited injection of big vision” and argued it places the construction sector “front and centre” in a decade-long development agenda, with major opportunities in roads, drainage, housing, coastal defences, agriculture infrastructure, renewable energy installations and digital-ready public works.

But she noted that credibility would depend not on policy declarations but on execution.

TT, she said, has “lived through decades of announcements that promised the moon but delivered mud,” and urged contractors to hold themselves to high standards of delivery, transparency and workmanship.

“We are fed up in this country of roads being repaired this morning, only to drive on it within a few hours, and the pothole is even larger,” she said.

“We are fed up with homes being constructed for government, and when people move into it...I don’t need to say more, do I?”

Nevertheless, she noted that the revitalisation framework provides a path for “co-creation” between the State and industry, offering local content, faster payments, quality assurance and capacity building.

“This is a moment to move from dependence to co-creation, from waiting for work to shaping the national agenda,” she said.

Housing Minister David Lee, speaking shortly after, acknowledged Sagewan’s critique but said the new government was determined to reverse years of stagnation, stalled projects and unreliable payment cycles.

“If there was ever a time in our history when the construction industry could change the destiny of TT, it is now,” he said.

“We are now entering a new era where construction is not a side chapter. It is a front line of national revitalisation. And at the centre of that front line is you.”

The Revitalisation Blueprint includes 129 major projects, he noted, among them the San Fernando-Mayaro Highway, port expansion in Port of Spain and Galeota, waterfront developments, the redevelopment of Invaders Bay, a new justice complex in Tamana, and a 250-acre housing estate to replace the Golden Grove Prison.

He repeated the prime minister's assessment that these projects could generate an estimated 50,000 new jobs across construction and related sectors.

He framed the industry not as passive beneficiaries but as critical partners whose performance will determine whether the blueprint succeeds.

“If you succeed, it succeeds. If you stall, it stalls,” he said.

Speaking on housing, Lee offered an unvarnished assessment of past failures.

“Over 100,000 applicants are on the HDC database, waiting for a home. Yet in the last ten years, a mere 4,000 homes were built. That is not a shortage — that is a failure of delivery.”

He reaffirmed the government’s commitment to building 20,000 affordable homes within four to five years, supported by new construction methods: modular, prefabricated and mixed-use models, he said, and a focus on climate and energy-efficient designs.

Some 66 sites have been identified for development to date.

While not directly addressing the quantum owed to contractors, Lee signalled that government intends to improve reliability and predictability in the system.

Contractors, he said, have long borne the brunt of fluctuating material prices, “unpredictable payment cycles,” delayed approvals and compliance bottlenecks.

“Tonight we honour that resilience, and we commit to matching it with stronger policy, better systems, and more reliable partnerships.”