550 contractors to benefit from $228m in projects

More than 500 small contractors are to be benefit from projects to be implemented throughout the country shortly, Minister of Local Government Surujrattan Rambachan announced yesterday. 

“Local government activities are there to stimulate the economy. $228 million is being spent on developmental programmes and 550 small contractors will get work on these projects,” he said at a signing ceremony between the Government of T&T and the Caribbean Local Economic Development Programme (Cariled) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tower C, International Waterfront, Port-of-Spain. 

Rambachan said over the next six years, Cariled will be involved in supporting nearly 50 local government agencies throughout the Caribbean to foster economic development in communities. The programme, which is based in T&T, is implemented by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) in partnership with the Caribbean Forum of Local Government Ministers and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). 

Cariled’s programme director, Naresh Singh, said the Cdn$23.2 million programme will be building capacity in local government bodies to support the growth of medium and small enterprises. “In T&T, the Local Area Economic Profiles (LAEP) process will start in March in a few demonstration sites. These will provide baseline data and help identify what interventions make sense. 

“Sites under consideration are in the San Juan/Laventille, Princes Town, Penal/Debe, Point Fortin and Chaguanas. “Sites in Tobago are still to be selected,” Singh said.