Planning minister: No preference in Invaders Bay project

Government is unlikely to meet the February 23 deadline to complete procurement legislation following the Opposition’s withdrawal from the parliamentary committee undertaking the process, Planning MInister Bhoe Tewarie said yesterday. The Opposition PNM blanked Monday’s meeting of the committee revamping public procurement legislation and has withdrawn its involvement, complaining about procurement in various Government matters.

Speaking at yesterday’s post-Cabinet media briefing, Tewarie said he would give the Opposition “one more chance to attend” as he would call another meeting of the committee within the next week or so. He added: “We have no written indication of withdrawal so I propose to have at least one more meeting and they can either choose to show up or not.

 

“We will continue to try with the legislation. I don’t think we’ll meet the February 23 deadline but we will try as close to that date as possible to report to the Parliament and pursue procedures to eventually bring the legislation to Parliament.” Tewarie said he may have to take a position to Cabinet first and, on the basis of that, engage in some consultation and then take legislation to Parliament. He said the Opposition should be the last to talk about delays in procurement legislation since nothing had been done since 2006. He added: “I think the Opposition is unsure of its position on procurement. We have no  interest in delaying the legislation. I gave a commitment we would try to achieve it by consensus but the PNM has turned their backs on that. “If you felt there was something wrong with the way we are providing governance, the best way to deal with it is to get your views into the legislation being designed to manage things, which is what makes me feel the PNM is not serious.” 

 

Addressing procurement concerns on some projects, Tewarie also said the Invaders Bay project, for instance, did not involve procurement since it was a call for private sector investment. He said no contracts had been signed for Invaders Bay. Recommendations made to Cabinet were accepted and a technical team has been negotiating with three recommended entities for the last few weeks. Tewarie said the team was close to bringing that to fruition in at least one instance. Due diligence checks were being done on the individuals, including financing. Investment must start in a year once a contract is signed, he added. He said meetings also have been held with some of the eight entities which proposed for Invaders Bay and “some people” indicated willingness to invest elsewhere in T&T.

Talks on that were ongoing with a ministerial team, he added.