Warner’s ministry may shift to Govt campus

The National Security Ministry, Abercromby Street, Port-of-Spain, may be moved to the Government campus near Wrightson Road to make way for the Red House’s companion building. Work may start next year on the companion block, once Cabinet approves the ministry’s move, Udecott CEO Jearlean John said on Wednesday. John was updating the T&T Guardian on the companion building. The building was suggested in the report by a parliamentary committee on parliamentary accommodation. The report said the Red House, to which the Parliament would return, required  a “companion” building to house Parliament’s auxiliary offices. The report was approved  in the last parliamentary session.

Chairman of the committee, MP Stephen Cadiz, said the proposed location for the companion building was the block on Knox Street, between St Vincent Street and Abercromby Street, where an army division and the National Security Ministry were based. John said some ministry storage departments had special requirements. She said National Security Minister Jack Warner had visited campus offices and was now to say whether his ministry could use them. John said as long as Cabinet agreed to having the ministry housed at campus offices, Udecott would tender for their outfitting and she projected that might take until about year’s end. Consequently, work to prepare the block for the companion building may not start before next year, “so it’s in the embryonic stages,” John added. The Government is still to decide whether to demolish buildings on the Knox Street/Abercromby Street site to build the new companion building or rework existing structures.