Promise to people of Tobago fulfilled—London

The Victor E Bruce Financial Complex was officially opened on Monday evening in a gala event hosted by the secretary of Finance and Enterprise Development in the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Dr Anselm London. The project, of which state-owned Udecott was project manager, was constructed by H Lewis Construction at a cost of approximately $103 million.Construction of the the financial complex began in 2005.

In his address London said all financial facets of the THA, inclusive of the Inland Revenue Department, would now be housed in one location. “I should let you know that the Scarborough offices of the division of the Finance and Enterprise Development as of a few days ago were housed in three places, two of which were rented and another, Sandy Hall that has seen its best days and cannot now accommodate the staff in conditions that are consistent with the basic norms of a modern workplace,” he said.

He added the new financial complex represented a budgetary savings of the assembly and a blessing to the staff of the division. He said the building was also a promised fulfilled to the people of Tobago, despite the lack of funding from the central government.

“The construction and furnishing of this building were not fully financed by its parliamentary allocations. In fact, this complex received less than 20 per cent of the required funding from its parliamentary allocation, the actual amount is $16.7 million,” he said.   

Meanwhile, the THA’s chief secretary, Orville London, told those gathered that when his administration took the helm in 2001, it was their mandate to make Tobago a place with capacity and class. He said it was the assembly’s directive to redefine and beautify Scarborough for the future.

“When we came into power in 2001, we were concerned with developing the island called Tobago and developing Tobagonians, and we were specifically concerned with developing Scarborough but we were not developing for development sake. “When we developed we thought about two things, capacity and class and not just capacity and class for 2001 or 2010, but capacity and class that would be relevant for generations to come,” he said.

Also attending the opening were Governor of the Central Bank Ewart Williams and former chief secretary of the THA Hochoy Charles.

About the complex

The complex is a four-storey building with a sick bay in the event any member of staff falls ill. It also has a supervised study room for children of staff of the division to get help with their homework after school while their parents work. The building was named after Tobago-born Victor E Bruce, the first local and longest serving governor of the T&T Central Bank.