Min­is­ter of Pub­lic Ad­min­is­tra­tion and Dig­i­tal Trans­for­ma­tion Allyson West said yes­ter­day the gov­ern­ment has ac­knowl­edged the dif­fer­ent views re­gard­ing the pri­vati­sa­tion of the Port-of-Spain port but will be guid­ed by a re­port of the Cab­i­net-ap­point­ed com­mit­tee.

“We have mixed views on how the gov­ern­ment treats with dif­fer­ent op­er­a­tions. Some peo­ple think the gov­ern­ment should not pri­va­tize any­thing and there are some peo­ple who are of the view that gov­ern­ment should not be in­volved in any­thing busi­ness-re­lat­ed. So what we are try­ing to do is ar­rive at a po­si­tion that gives the peo­ple of Trinidad and To­ba­go the best op­tion,” she said.

She con­tin­ued: “We cur­rent­ly have a port that is op­er­at­ing in­ef­fi­cient­ly which af­fects every in­di­vid­ual in Trinidad and To­ba­go be­cause for ex­am­ple, our food im­port bill is high be­cause it means a lot of our food is im­port­ed. If it is im­port­ed in cir­cum­stances where the clear­ance to the port is in­ef­fi­cient, the per­sons im­port­ing the food are go­ing to pass on that in­creased cost caused by the in­ef­fi­cien­cy at the port to the con­sumers. So every in­di­vid­ual in Trinidad and To­ba­go has an in­ter­est in en­sur­ing that we are op­er­at­ing an ef­fi­cient port sys­tem.”

The com­mit­tee is set to meet with the Trinidad and To­ba­go Man­u­fac­tur­ers As­so­ci­a­tion, the Cham­ber of In­dus­try and Com­merce and Amer­i­can Cham­ber of Com­merce, cus­tom bro­kers, the Bu­reau of Stan­dards, the Min­istry of Trade, the En­vi­ron­men­tal Man­age­ment Au­thor­i­ty and the Min­istry of Fi­nance.

The com­mit­tee com­pris­es four min­is­ters - the Min­is­ter of Works and Trans­port Ro­han Sinanan, Min­is­ter of Trade and In­dus­try Paula Gopee-Scoon, Min­is­ter of Fi­nance Colm Im­bert and Min­is­ter West.

It al­so in­cludes of­fi­cials from the Min­istry of Works, the Port Au­thor­i­ty, the Sea­men and Wa­ter­front Work­ers Trade Union, the Ship­ping As­so­ci­a­tion of Trinidad and To­ba­go, the Man­u­fac­tur­ers As­so­ci­a­tion, and the Cham­ber of In­dus­try and Com­merce.

It will sub­mit a re­port to Cab­i­net in two weeks.

Mean­while Min­is­ter West main­tained that for­mer Shell vice-pres­i­dent Derek Hud­son’s past ex­pe­ri­ence as chair­man of the port val­i­dates his in­volve­ment in the talks, in re­sponse to con­cerns raised by the Op­po­si­tion.

“Derek Hud­son was chair­man of the port dur­ing the pe­ri­od when it was last prof­itable, up to 2010-2011, so he has knowl­edge of the op­er­a­tions of the Port and we think he has a role to play and a con­tri­bu­tion to make in the op­er­a­tions of this com­mit­tee,” West said.