The ongoing Parliamentary questions regarding rents paid out by the State for office space dovetailed neatly with the Government's plans to decentralise its services last week.Supporting the case for decentralised services and major new construction projects to house ministries was Minister of Planning Dr Bhoe Tewarie, who noted that between 2002 and 2011 the Ministry of Science and Tertiary Education had spent $41 million on rent for a building in St James.
Other ministries offered equally massive numbers. The National Training Agency spent $11 million in rent between 1999 and 2013. The Ministry of Community Development is spending $1.2 million in rent, and the Ministry of Food Production sets aside $3 million.
There seems to be no big figure available for state rents, but a contender for the title of big spender is likely to be Ministry of Tertiary Education and Skills Training (MTEST), which since 2002 has racked up an estimated $168 million in rent for the agencies that operate under its umbrella, which include the National Training Agency, the Accreditation Council, the Youth Training and Employment Partnership Programme and the College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts.
"The Government firmly believes the benefits to be derived from the decentralisation of these ministries, combined with the convenience of having various departments in one location, will far outweigh any adverse effects of relocation," noted Dr Tewarie.
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