Colour Me programme shelved

Government’s $73.5 million Colour Me Orange programme, which was in place between 2010 and 2012, will not be extended, Senate leader Ganga Singh says. Singh was replying to an Opposition question in the Senate yesterday. The CMO programme was done on HDC housing estates as a means of teaching skills to people—ranging from construction to maintenance work—to equip them for employment in other sectors.

Singh said the programme was implemented in seven areas, including east, south and central Port-of-Spain, Couva and San Fernando. It was conducted from March 2010 to June 2010, with a second phase from November 2010 to December 2010 and a third from November 2011 to February 2012.

The programme, Singh said, created jobs for 3,553 people, but has now ended and there was no plan or intention to extend it. He said it had been extended after 2010 because of 7,081 requests from HDC tenants to have work done on their properties at housing estates.