Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley will begin working out of Whitehall on Monday, becoming the 6th prime minister to work in the 115-year-old building.
He made the announcement at a reopening ceremony yesterday, as the Office of the Prime Minister took delivery of the structure from the Urban Development Company of Trinidad and Tobago (UDeCOTT), which had managed the extensive repairs.
“Today we accept from the contractors and the UDeCOTT staff, Whitehall, which the staff is beginning to move into - and over the weekend they will continue - and the prime minister will work here for the first time next week. Next Monday, the prime minister will come here to work for the first time in a very long, long time,” Dr Rowley said.
It will be the first time a prime minister will occupy Whitehall in 10 years. The last prime minister to work in the building was the late Patrick Manning, whom Dr Rowley succeeded as leader of the ruling People’s National Movement in 2010.
It was during Manning’s last tenure as prime minister, that the Office of the Prime Minister was relocated to the current location at St Clair Avenue, St Clair in 2009, due to leaking roofs and fragile floors.
The historic building had been occupied by all of the country’s prime ministers at some point, except Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who spent her entire term from 2010 to 2015 at the St Clair building.
The restoration of Whitehall was done at a cost of $32 million.
Whitehall
Shirley Bahadur
During his address, the prime minister defended the multi-million dollar cost.
“Symbolism is important, history is important because it connects you to who you are," said Dr Rowley, who admitted that finding funds for the project was at times a headache for the Ministry of Finance.
He praised the team that undertook the restoration process and noted that it was comprised of a group of young women.
“The men seem to be absent when you need them and the men are underperforming, “ said the prime minister, “The women are taking us places.”
Dr Rowley announced that the committee to restore the country’s heritage buildings is also far advanced with the work on President’s House.
“In the not-too-distant future I trust that Her Excellency would invite some of us to the reoccupation to another iconic building, President’s House, which is to be reopened and made available for occupancy in the very near future,” he said.
The prime minister added that the chambers and floors which currently house the Parliamentary chamber will be converted into civil courtrooms when the Parliament returns to the Red House later this year.
Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley chat with members of the Youth Choir at the reopening of White Hall yesterday.
Darren Rampersad
“These civil courts will allow the Hall of Justice to be used solely for criminal matters,” said Dr Rowley who added that Cabinet approved that process earlier in the day.
Earlier this year, the prime minister had said the chambers would be used by the Senate to facilitate simultaneous sittings of the Lower and Upper House.
He estimated that $6 million will be saved by that move and it would aid in the expedition of the criminal justice system in the country.
He said Attorney General Faris Al Rawi would provide further details on the move in the coming week.
He said that among the other historic buildings being restored are the Red House and the building which used to house the Ministry of Agriculture.
The latter building will soon house the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the prime minister said.
He also explained that restoration work on Mille Fleurs, aided by engineers from Cuba, was also progressing well.
Whitehall, originally called Rosenweg, is the second northernmost of the Magnificent Seven buildings and was a private house until it was purchased by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago in 1954.
Built in 1904, it first became the Office of the Prime Minister, occupied by Dr Eric Williams, in 1963.
This was the third major restoration project carried out on the building.