The decision by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to lead the $7.2 billion project to extend the Solomon Hochoy Highway from Golconda to Point Fortin is a positive development that's worth saluting. The Prime Minister will lead a Cabinet sub-committee consisting of the Housing and Environment Minister, Roodal Moonilal, Local Government Minister Chandresh Sharma, Works Ministers Jack Warner and Stacy Roopnarine. The highway extension committee signals a willingness by the Prime Minister to take full responsibility for the single most expensive infrastructure project attempted in this country's history and the cross-disciplinary profile of the team she will lead acknowledges the many issues that the project will face. If the Government also holds to its commitment to reserve a minimum of 40 per cent of the project works for local contractors, it will also be undertaking to provide a long overdue injection of capital into Trinidad and Tobago's construction sector, something that must be managed carefully to create sustainable added value over the long term.
Key to this will be the need for the highway extension committee to engage in proper long-term planning for the project's execution, considering not only the challenges of the project itself but the ancillary impact it will have on service providers in the construction industry. If nothing else, the example of the previous government offers the committee a playbook rich in examples of what to avoid. There should be no playing of political or constituency favourites among local contractors and suppliers. Each business selected to provide services should earn their place on the project team not just through a demonstration of capacity and a proven track record, but also through its capacity to leverage the opportunities that this project will bring to built its capacity to deliver locally and regionally. What the construction industry needs from government is not a billion-dollar handout but a strategic plan for infrastructure development that encourages investment in the kind of equipment and expertise that will become an asset to future infrastructure projects.
That level of project planning hasn't been evident in recent construction initiatives and the result has been boom and bust cycles of demand for equipment, raw materials and talent in the sector. Another key aspect of the project that must hold eminence on the committee's agenda is the establishment of transparent procurement protocols that ensure value for money in the retention of service contracts and raw materials. The development of ironclad and prosecutable service level agreements with contractors and suppliers for the project would go a long way toward eliminating the kind of absurd waste and extended timelines that have accompanied the highest profile infrastructure projects of the last decade. Such agreements cannot be one-way assignments of responsibility and the Cabinet committee must ensure that the most rigorous procurement processes are in place and that these processes are strictly implemented. In initiating this project and seeking the participation of local contractors, the Government must also hold to its word when it promises payment, a failing that has cost local contractors dearly in the recent past.
There can be no underestimating the challenges of this highway extension project, which will require 18 cross roads, eight interchanges and eight bridges to take the highway from the east-west corridor to Point Fortin. The project will cross through constituencies, existing homes, difficult terrain and ultimately provide a nation-changing arc of highway grade transportation between Port-of-Spain and Point Fortin.
The impact of improved connectivity between the region that birthed the country's oil and gas industry and its capital city is likely to be as important as the changes that the Uriah Butler and the Solomon Hochoy Highways brought when they first opened, cutting travel times between San Fernando and Port-of-Spain significantly. Ultimately, the highway extension committee will be responsible for the fundamentals of project management, delivering the project on time and within budget, basics of oversight that have proven elusive in recent years. Let's hope that the leadership of the Prime Minister guides this committee to greater success in managing these principles of governance.