Works Ministry To Carry Out More Infrastructure Projects In-House
The Ministry of Works and Infrastructure says it is increasing the number of road, drainage and infrastructure projects completed internally, arguing that this approach saves millions of dollars and provides greater oversight of public works.
During Day 3 of the Standing Finance Committee on Thursday, Minister of Works and Infrastructure Jearlean John said the Ministry will carry out more projects using its own personnel rather than relying solely on contractors.
“The intention is that we are going to do this work in-house, and Minister, even our harshest critic, will say this is a very busy Ministry. We are out there, and we are working very hard. You see us everywhere.”
She highlighted how the Ministry’s skilled staff are completing projects in-house, reducing costs and allowing for more direct oversight of the work.
“A lot of it is because we are doing quite a lot of the work in-house, so we don’t have a markup. So when you look at down at Coco Reef, for instance, we had the collapse; we had the collapse of a culvert, a crossing, and the tender that came in was over $3 million. The staff of the Ministry did this piece of work splendidly. As a matter of fact, right now they’re up at Las Lomas doing a very technical piece of work. So, what we are doing, we are using the Ministry staff, they ain’t parked up. These are highly skilled, highly trained people, very enthusiastic people.”
Despite a reduced allocation for similar work during the current fiscal year, Minister John reminded the Opposition of what the Ministry had previously achieved.
“Last year we spent 44 million with 48 projects, and I can stand up here all day now, if you wish, and I can call out all of the projects. Critical repairs to landslip off Cumaca Road, 1.5 metre sectional road rehabilitation along Naparima Mayaro Road, critical repairs to landslip, Brasso Tamana Road, emergency landslip, repairing Churchill Roosevelt Highway… and I can go on and on and on, right? Nobody could say we are missing an action. We’ve been doing a lot of work.”
Minister John also said the Maritime Services Division is actively conducting inspections of vessels, monitoring party boats, and addressing concerns about maritime safety and compliance.
The Ministry is looking at legislation to modernise maritime regulations in an effort to address issues such as wreck removal and illegal anchoring.
“The Director of Maritime Services, he’s always happy to report the number of letters he issued over the weekend, these party boats and things, because that’s a matter of grave concern that we are doing a 100% inspection. It’s not easy, but we try our best because we know people try to go against the law and so on. Even more than the legislation is the enforcement. So even with what we have, it’s really treating with that enforcement. This is a very, very troubling set of activities, quite frankly.”
