Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh says between 800 to 1,000 jobs will be available in 2019 when the Point Fortin Hospital is completed.

During a tour of the facility being built by Austrian firm VAMED Engineering GmbH &CO KG, Deyalsingh said the steelwork was completed while the project was 40 per cent completed.

While the Ministry has started the process for staffing the Point Fortin and Arima hospitals, Government was yet to make a decision on how the Children’s Hospital in Couva will be integrated into the public health system.

“The process for staffing all the new hospitals, Arima and Point Fortin, has already begun. We are in the process of identifying all the additional staff that will be required: Nurses, doctors, technicians and radiographers, all of those services will be ramped up.

“Once we decide how we are going to integrate Couva, then we will start," he said.

He said the South West Regional Health Authority will also be refurbishing the Point Fortin Area Hospital, which will be used as a tertiary care facility once the new hospital is completed. He said the critical process of getting consultant physicians to come to Point Fortin has already started and the old doctor’s quarters in Mahaica will be refurbished. He welcomed corporate sponsorship in getting that project done.

The new hospital was commissioned through an arrangement with the Austrian government at a cost of $1.5 billion. The sod was turned on May 21, 2015, by the former health minister, Fuad Khan, however, months had passed before any work began. Deyalsingh said that on assuming his ministerial portfolio, he was able to shave off $500 million off the new hospitals without reducing the amount of bed space.

In August, VAMED threatened to pack up and leave T&T, if they were not paid $79 million for work already done. The sum was to cover incremental monies to continue the project. Weeks later, payment was made.

Specs of new hospital

Structure being built to withstand a category 4 hurricane

Structure being built to withstand earthquakes up to 6.0

100-bed capacity

Burn's Unit

Heliport

Increased parking

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley yesterday reacted angrily to the negative criticism which his suggestion T&T should open its doors to Dominicans ravaged by Hurricane Maria has brought on social media.

Rowley had last week suggested that citizens who could accommodate Dominican family or friends left homeless after Maria, should open their doors to their Caribbean brethren for a six-month period.

However, the proposal caused an fire storm on social media, with many making xenophobic and racially tainted comments.

Some of the conversation included that Dominicans would commit crime while here and milk the state dry of limited resources while T&T citizens were suffering and needed similar state help.

But this sentiment was countered by a vast majority who said T&T should see no problem with helping its Caricom neighbour.

Several Government ministers also defended the plan, noting that Dominica was in dire need of humanitarian aid due to the devastation caused by Maria.

As he attended a sod turning ceremony for the Churchill Roosevelt Highway Extension to Manzanilla (CRHEM) in Cumuto yesterday, Rowley addressed the issue publicly for the first time.

Recalling that similar anti-Caricom sentiment had caused a fallout between the T&T and Jamaica business sector last year, resulting in him having to travel to Kingston for talks to prevent a possible Jamaica boycott of T&T goods, Rowley said: “Those now who have a lot to say about what I said about Dominica had misconducted themselves and so annoyed our Caricom purchasers of our goods that we were in danger of losing our Caricom market and all I will say to them is just shut your mouth and let Trinidad and Tobago strive.”

He said he was very clear during his statement that only citizens who were willing to accommodate Dominicans should do so, adding he was happy to see that there were many Trinidadians who understood the severity of Dominica’s plight and were willing to lend a hand.

“It is just the nastiness that you know, that exudes from some people that caused what I said to become this embarrassing conversation to our country,” Rowley added.

Meanwhile, Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan said he plans to donate his September salary to the people of Dominica.

He also called on all employees from his ministry to donate a small contribution of $10 to assist the relief cause.

Sinanan also announced yesterday that Cabinet had agreed to increase the speed limit from the existing 80 kilometres per hour to 100 kilometres per hour on the nation’s highways.

However, he said the matter will now be taken to Parliament for debate and approval.

Sinanan said he believes the increase could come into effect in the next two weeks once everything goes according to plan.

But he said the new limit will come alongside other traffic laws, including a point system which will ban delinquent motorists after a certain number of traffic violations and the use of cameras on traffic lights to record red light infractions.

Dominica Prime Minister Dr Roosevelt Skerrit yesterday assured Trinidadians “there is nothing to fear” from any of his compatriots who may accept Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s invitation to stay in T&T for six months while they rebuild in Dominica.

Responding to the negative reactions from some quarters in T&T over Rowley’s proposal, Skerrit said Dominicans are “exceptionally peaceful.”

He said he “endorsed Rowley’s offer, especially regarding school children.

He said many schools had been destroyed in the hurricane and “will not reopen any time soon,” adding the offer will be especially good for fifth formers “to continue their studies for CXC.”

Speaking on CNC3 Morning Brew, Skerrit said his grandfather was a Trinidadian.

Saying there will always be those who seek to “politicise anything you say or do,” Skerrit felt that people needed to be more broad-minded.

“Today it is us, it could be somebody else tomorrow, we all live in the hurricane zone.”

Caribbean unity, he said, must be the centre that holds us together.

He said he was especially grateful to Rowley, “the Cabinet and the people of T&T, you guys have been exceptional in your support to Dominica.”

Skerrit said he had given “a commitment” to his countrymen that he will “not pay attention to any negative,” adding his focus was on rebuilding the lives of the people.

The Prime Minister said he has been on the ground alongside his countrymen since the disaster struck.

He said the majority of the island remains without electricity, but they were hoping to restore electricity to the main hospital.

He said many of the roads which were blocked with fallen trees and debris had been cleared and Food and medical supplies had been pouring in from across the Caribbean. He said the bigger problem will be rebuilding.

“When your entire country is devastated like this it will be a very long and difficult journey,” he said.

Skerrit said the names of the dead and missing will be published today “so that people who are trying to find out whether their family or friends are missing will have the names and once they are not on the list we assure that the person is alive.”

Caricom chairman, Grenada Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell, who toured the devastation in Dominica yesterday, said having passed through a similar road in 2004 “I know how lonely it was.”

But he said the situation in the region, where many islands had been hit by Hurricanes Irma and Maria, had brought “that element of Caribbean family spirit that we would love to see more of.”

In adversity, he said “we get good messages.”

He too urged that political differences be “put aside at this time.

“Right now is about immediate needs.”

A reformed thief turned security guard was killed by police early yesterday, in circumstances that left his brother questioning whether the police followed proper protocol.

According to police, Gary Rogers, 29, was being taken by Constables Hosein and Hercules to get gas for his vehicle, after it stalled along the Caroni Savannah Road around 1.30 am yesterday.

While in the vehicle, police said they smelled alcohol and told him about it, noting he was about to drive. It was then Rogers is said to have attacked the driver, PC Hercules, and was shot dead by PC Hosein. The attack caused Hercules to lose control of the vehicle, which swerved off the road and crashed. The officers escaped with minor injuries

Speaking to the T&T Guardian outside a chicken farm at Governor Road, Las Lomas, the victim’s brother Glen said police claimed his brother was placed in the police vehicle without handcuffs and he stabbed an officer, leading to him being shot six times.

“Nobody not arresting anybody without handcuffs. If he in the back of the Xtrail you not putting him just so. This is a case of a set up thing. They will not investigate that because he have a record,” Rogers said.

Rogers said his brother, who was released from prison two years ago after serving larceny charges, was the second sibling shot dead. Their other brother, prison officer Andy Rogers, was shot to death in Malabar in 2013.

But he said Gary was now changing his life and was working at the chicken farm and as a security guard at a Kelly Village casino. He was also rearing ducks to begin his own farming career.

His former bosses at the chicken farm described him as a diligent worker who was always punctual and respectful.

One woman said when Rogers first started he would work the entire day but then changed to shifts when he got the security job.

In a telephone interview yesterday, Police Social and Welfare Association president, Insp Michael Seales, said Rogers was not under arrest so there was no need for him to be handcuffed.

He said the officers did not break any protocol while transporting him as they were being “good Samaritans.”

Two of ten freight containers with relief supplies, which were expected to be shipped today from Carenage to Dominica, had to be offloaded and redirected to the Port of Port-of-Spain for clearance on orders by the T&T Coast Guard yesterday.

This will result in relief items, such as generators, tarpaulins, bottled water, mattresses, blankets, toiletries and canned foods, reaching those most in need being delayed by several days.

Yesterday, Living Waters Community volunteer Dayne Harford, one of several people who gave their time and effort in spearheading the loading of the ten 20-foot long containers, expressed outraged at the incident.

Harford said two containers were loaded at Specialist Chemicals in San Juan yesterday and were “trucked” down to Capital Signal jetty in Carenage, where they were placed on a marine vessel destined for ravaged Dominica when the T&T Coast Guard intervened and gave the instructions for it to be moved to the port for checks and clearance.

“We had another two containers on its way to Carenage also that we had to stop and redirect to the port. We were going to load five containers today, with the remaining five tomorrow and sail on Wednesday evening,” Harford said.

“Now with all this drama we have to take the two containers off the vessel and get the truckers to come back down here to take the containers to the port. Then the boat has to sail up to the Port Authority and then onload again.

“This is too much. It is ridiculous the state our country is in. We are offering to help these people but everything in a mess and disorganised. I am really furious. I am really upset. All these things could have been avoided.”

With all the confusion at the port, Harford said the relief supplies, which were donated by the public, “will no doubt take days to reach Dominicans” who are starving and looting and in a state of despair.

“There was no reason for this. The Coast Guard needs to understand that Dominicans are in a desperate situation right now. It’s urgent that these items get to them as soon as possible,” he said.

“This is just bureaucratic red tape. There is absolutely no reason for us to go to the port except we would be charged a fee for use of their cranes among other things.”

The containers, which will bear the sign “From Trinidad to Dominica with Love,” were filled with donations sent through various organisations, including Living Waters, Blue Waters and St Finbar’s RC Church.

Harford said they had already organised with the Customs and Excise Division to check the containers to ensure that nothing illegal had been placed in them.

Contacted yesterday, T&T Coast Guard public relations officer Lieutenant Sherron Manswell said he was unaware of the incident.

“I don’t have any information on this at all,” Manswell said.

Manswell asked that the T&T Guardian call him back for an update.

However, when we made an attempt to reach him, his cellphone went straight to voicemail.

Two police officers, including a female officer, were accidentally shot yesterday while one of the officers was cleaning his service pistol.

According to reports, Constable Bernard, who is attached to the San Juan Police Station, was cleaning his weapon around 9 am when the gun fired, hitting his colleague, Constable Sealey, in her abdomen. Police said Bernard was grazed on the hand.

Both officers were taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mt Hope, where Sealey underwent emergency surgery. Up to yesterday evening officers could not give an update on her.

Last year, Constable Prakash Deosaran was charged with manslaughter after his gun accidentally fired, killing colleague PC Govindra Ramroop. Deosaran is currently on $100,000 bail as the matter is still before a Point Fortin magistrate. That incident took place in November 2015 at the Guapo Police Station.

Two police officers attached to specialised units in the Port-of-Spain Division were denied bail and remanded in custody to re-appear in court today, when the appeared in the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Court on drug and weapons charges.

Constables Stephen Johnson and Toola Jack, of the Inter Agency Task Force and Firearm Interdiction Unit, appeared before Senior Magistrate Nanette Forde-John, who initially asked arresting officers why the men were not taken to the Siparia court to deal with the substantive matters before being transferred to her jurisdiction for those they had there.

An upset sounding Forde-John said there was no need to take the men to Port-of-Spain only for the matter to be transferred to Siparia. She said she was not granting bail in the matters outside her jurisdiction and dealt with Johnson’s individual charge separately.

Johnson, who was represented by Ian Brooks, was ordered to report to the Besson Street Police Station every Wednesday and Saturday after he was granted bail in a separate matter in Forde-John’s jurisdiction. That offence is alleged to have taken place one day after the duo were arrested in South Oropouche at Johnson’s Sandy Trace, Upper St Barb’s home. It is alleged that he had 10 rounds of ammunition at his home. He was granted $45,000 bail with a cash alternative of $20,000.

The officers are jointly charged with trafficking 54.3 kilogrammes of marijuana with an estimated street value of $733,000. The drugs were allegedly found in four crocus bags in a police vehicle with the two officers and another man. Three illegal guns and an undisclosed amount of ammunition were also found in the car. The men are accused of having the guns and drugs at Dow Village, South Oropouche, on September 19.

Attorneys Brooks and Darryl Worrell did not request that their clients be kept separate from other inmates while on remand, as has been the case with police officers in the past. The officers were the last to be taken to court just after lunch and had the largest support in the courtroom, with both colleagues and relatives filling it. At the end of the sitting, one of Johnson’s colleagues shook his hand as he left the courtroom, although prisoners interacting with those in the public gallery is forbidden.

“A blatant lie!”

That’s how Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan has described last Wednesday’s testimony by Port Authority of T&T CEO Charmaine Lewis before the Joint Select Committee (JSC) into the sea bridge.

Outraged by Lewis’ inaccurate statement, Sinanan sent JSC chairman Stephen Creese a letter yesterday “debunking” her claims and putting the facts on the table.

In giving evidence, Lewis had raised concerns over Sinanan’s instruction to now suspended T&T Inter-Island Transportation Company Ltd CEO Leon Grant to inspect the “barge”—the Trinity Transporter—even before the port’s evaluation process for a cargo vessel began.

Lewis told the JSC Sinanan had told Grant he thought the barge would be “suitable” and the owner wanted US$12,000 a day but that he (Grant) should beat them down to US$8,000.

“That conversation took place before the evaluation and the formal submission of the barge to the Port,” Lewis told the JSC.

In defending his name yesterday, however, Sinanan said he felt compelled to “debunk the nonsense Lewis spoke” about.

“Charmaine Lewis just made a fool of herself by going there, in my opinion, and to say a whole set of things that were not true,” Sinanan said in a telephone interview.

He said his instruction to Grant was “to look at everything that was available in our waters, which included the Coast Guard vessels, because there was no board in place at the time since it was an emergency. I never said to go and look at the barge.”

He said after viewing several vessels, the port told the ministry the Atlantic Provider and Trinity Transporter were the most suitable vessels.

“I can’t tell them it suitable because I don’t know anything about barges or cargo vessels. So all that is a blatant lie.”

Sinanan said Lewis’ testimony “was so conniving it gives the impression that I told them to look at the barge and Atlantic Provider alone. They went that day with a purpose. They couldn’t find anything on the minister and couldn’t do anything. I have no doubt that somewhere along there…there was some collusion with some members of that JSC to put something there. And if there was a board in place at the time of the contract, what place the minister has?”

He also admitted he has sceptical about the port’s management.

Sinanan noted that PATT vice chairman Adrian Beharry, in his testimony to the JSC, admitted to negotiating for the barge.

Also contacted yesterday, David Brash, who was awarded a three-month contract by the port for the Trinity Transporter, denied being a friend of Sinanan’s or working in collusion with him.

“I met (Sinanan) once and that was after we made the offer to the port. I don’t know him personally,” Brash said, adding two rates were offered to the port board.

“If you rent the barge for a day or up to seven days it is US$12,000 a day. If you rent it beyond that its daily rate is US$ 8,500. Our offer was in writing. All that was negotiated was a deduction of US$500 off the US$8,500, which was done by Beharry.”

The barge, which Brash said was underutilised, worked for 85 days. He said Lewis was”misinformed” and described her testimony “erroneous,” adding the allegations had painted a bad picture for his organisation and vessel.

Asked if he would go before the JSC to clear the air and defend his company, Brash said he saw no reason to do so since they did not do anything wrong.

“If they say we in some sort of corruption or collusion we would defend that. I would certainly send my lawyer a note. We will take it from that point of view.”

Brash said the day the barge pulled into Port-of-Spain was the first time he met Grant.

Sixty-year-old Jasodra Jagmohan who was initially charged with the murder of her husband yesterday pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter.

Wearing a sling on her right arm, a frail Jagmohan has been attending the San Fernando High Court on a stretcher which could be transformed into a wheelchair since she was arraigned in July.

However, the State, represented by Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj SC, who received a fiat to prosecute, did not open the case to the jury.

When the matter came up again before Justice Althea Alexis-Windsor in the Fourth Assizes yesterday, the charge was read again to Jagmohan, who, after being assisted by a policewoman to stand, said, in a barely audible tone, “not guilty to murder, guilty to manslaughter.” After instructing the jury to return a not guilty verdict to murder and a guilty verdict to manslaughter, the judge told the jury the attorneys had been “working feverishly” behind the scenes on this matter.

The Penal woman is accused of killing her husband Jagindranan Jagmohan, 57, also known as Rex, on a date unknown between June 22, 2007, and June 26, 2007, at Clarke Road, Penal.

An autopsy revealed her husband was strangled. The judge thanked the jury for their service before discharging them. The matter was adjourned to Friday when the judge is hoping to receive certain reports, including the bio-social report.

It is also expected that on that day defence attorney Prakash Ramadhar and Michael Rooplal will make a plea in mitigation.

Police said they were baffled when they were called to investigate the murder of family man Larry Garcia who was described by relatives and neighbours as "a good man."

Garcia, 31, was dragged off his bed around 3 am yesterday before his killers used a sledgehammer to smash his skull and slit his throat. According to reports, Garcia, who operated his home business selling industrial hoses, was asleep with his wife and five-year-old son at their humble Ecclesville, Rio Claro home. Three masked men forced their way through the front door and attacked Garcia.

As he fought with the men, his wife grabbed her son and locked herself in another room and contacted Garcia's brother.

The victim's mother, who asked not to be named, told the T&T Guardian her other son rescued Garcia's wife and son through another door in the pouring rain.

"When I did learn what happened, everything was done. The rain was falling so heavy, so my son went across. She had called him so he went across to get her. When they got back, he came and said 'robbery, they robbing Larry," the weeping mother said.

One of the killers had taken up Garcia's sledgehammer from his workshop and smashed it on his head and torso several times.

They then dragged him into the workshop and cut his throat. Before leaving, they stole a sum of money from the house and drove off in Garcia's white Nissan AD Wagon. The vehicle was found abandoned a few streets away.

Although relatives believed the attack was motivated by robbery, judging from the brutality of the murder, they believe it was something personal.

Garcia's mother said her son was well known as a hard worker, who split his time between church, family, work and gardening. Police also said robbery did not appear to be the motive.

Rhondor Dowlat

A parcel of land just in front the Riverside Plaza’s carpark in Port-of-Spain has been given to the Port-of-Spain City Corporation by the Government for the construction of a centre for homeless people.

This was yesterday disclosed by the city's mayor Joel Martinez after yesterday’s statutory meeting that took place at City Hall.

During the sitting, Martinez said discussions were ongoing with several parties including the Ministry of Social Development and the Downtown Owners Merchants Association regarding the construction of the centre. He said he will be approaching the business community to help in its construction.

Martinez later told the T&T Guardian that he was being assisted by assisting by a citizen who the homeless close to his heart and an institute based in Miami.

“The homeless have taken over the streets. The Prime Minister said the city streets were like an open sewer. The streets of Port-of-Spain were not a place of pride that is why I have embarked upon trying to find a solution knowing that previous mayors tried and encountered problems that led to injunctions and a court case that is still active,” Martinez said.

“We will be guided by the institute throughout the process. The Ministry has their ideas also so we all will be bringing together all the ideas to try to get everything done in a humane manner and properly,” he said.

The daughter of Leona Scott who was fatally knocked down while crossing in La Romaine on Monday night is pleading with the police to release the footage of the incident to help catch the culprit and get closure.

Shernice St Clair, the eldest of Scott's four children, said she was told that there was closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras at the Gulf City intersection where her mother met her death.

Police sources confirmed that there are working cameras at the traffic lights there, but they could not say whether or not investigators obtained the footage.

St Clair, her mother, their friends and neighbours had gone on an excursion to Clifton Hill Beach Resort. On their way back to their Indian Walk, Princes Town home, St Clair wanted to urinate while other passengers wanted to purchase food from KFC, so the bus driver stopped near the traffic lights around 7.45 pm.

St Clair said, "Before we stopped my mother was dancing and having a good time on the bus. My mother was the first person off the bus. It happen real quick. My best friend who is like a daughter to my mother said, 'Ma don't cross that road.' Then right after we hear a bang and someone shout out my mother get bounce down. I jump through the window and cross the road. I see my mother in a puddle of water on the side of the road. Blood was coming out her nose and mouth."

St Clair said a nurse stopped and took her mother to the San Fernando General Hospital.

"I think she died on the way," said St Clair. The accident caused a collision with other vehicles. St Clair, however, said no one at the scene admitted to knocking down her mother.

She said her aunt went to the San Fernando Police Station yesterday for an update but was told that the matter was still being investigated.

"I want to see the footage. I want to see who bounce my mother. I want to see what really happen," said St Clair.

She said her mother, a single parent, had plans to fix her house. Scott's other children are 21, 16 and two years old.

Scott's funeral service is expected to be held tomorrow at the Open Bible Church at Indian Walk and then to the Perry Young Cemetery.

The suspected mastermind of robbery gang operating in Barrackpore and Penal was killed in a shootout with police yesterday and his accomplice taken into custody.

The suspect, believed to be a 34-year-old man from Teelucksingh Trace, Barrackpore, was fished out a river along Sukhan Trace, Barrackpore near his home.

Police said he and his accomplice were part of a group responsible for hijacking motorists and using the stolen vehicles to commit robberies and other crimes.

Police said that on 12.05 am, the suspects robbed a home in Barrackpore and drove off with the family’s black Royal Saloon.

The suspects then used the car to carry out other robberies in Penal and Barrackpore yesterday.

But with an All-Points Bulletin issued for the car, two South Western Division officers on patrol spotted the car along Manohar Trace, Rochard Road, Barrackpore and chased the suspects.

As backup arrived, the suspects eventually crashed on the roadside. One of the suspects was held while the other escaped and robbed a woman of her Nissan Almera at gunpoint.

PC Ali and PC Tambie of the Barrackpore CID gave chase and spotted the car turning from Manohar Trace into Sukhan Trace. In a bid to evade the officers, the suspect sped off and crashed.

The deceased suspect, who wore a mask over his face, exited the car and ran into a swampy area. As the officers drew close, the man opened fire. However, the officers returned fire and the suspect fell into a river.

A .38 revolver and a quantity of ammunition were recovered from the river. The officers, including ACP Dookie, ASP Ali, recovered a gun, ski-masks and gloves from one of the stolen vehicles.

Government is being told to convert the Community-based Environment Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP) and Unemployment Relief Programme (URP) into “Farmpep” agricultural programmes or divert surplus CEPEP and URP labour into agricultural projects.

These suggestions were made at yesterday’s Government think-tank by economists Dr Vaalmikki Arjoon and Dr Roger Hosein.

Arjoon said CEPEP-URP spending needs to be curbed and reallocated to capital expenditure.

“Convert these programmes to a ‘Farmpep’ for promoting agricultural programmes,” he said.

Hosein suggested surplus CEPEP/URP labour go to agricultural projects or manufacturing. He also reiterated a previous recommendation to increase VAT to 12.5 per cent and increasing tax revenues. If T&T had to tighten systems, increasing taxes must be considered.

He suggested cutting nationals’ propensity to import from 53 per cent to 40 per cent.

Hosein and Chamber president Ronald Hinds both expressed concern at the toll crime has taken on productivity levels. Arjoon said some manufacturing employees couldn’t work late shifts for fear of being mugged. Hinds said people were unable to attend work due to crime or domestic violence.

The devastation caused by hurricanes Irma and Maria in the Northern Antilles has resulted in Sandals resort chain putting plans for building a 750-room hotel in Tobago on hold.

Confirmation came from Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley at a press conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel yesterday, following a six-hour discussion with the business community on a theme entitled Prime Minister on Spotlight of T&T’s Financial Circumstances - The Road Ahead.

In giving new details about the project, Rowley said one of the things his Government has been trying to do was attract our nation with a positive, even though some people saw “scandal in that.”

Regards negotiations with Sandals, Rowley said things had started to progress well and head of the Sandals group Butch Stewart was actually planning to come to T&T to wrap up discussions and sign a memorandum of understanding to finalise the mega project.

“And just as that was about to happen…I think the very said day...the day of Hurricane Irma or something like that, the group suffered significant damage to a number of properties in the Northern Antilles and they say they had about 5,000 people on their hands to treat with who were struck by the hurricane. And that had put back the meeting we had plan,” Rowley said

Rowley said he hoped that Sandals “does not lose their interest in Tobago as a result of the Irma and Maria losses and more so by a rejection of this approach by influential voices in Trinidad and Tobago.”

The PM said they are inviting a brand, referring to Sandals, into our shores, but noted that the national conversation for some people was that the country was giving away something.

“I want to make it abundantly clear that the Sandals project we have on the drawing board is not giving Sandals anything. Whatever we give or invest in that project, we are not giving Butch Stewart and Sandals anything. What Sandals will bring is the brand, the labelling and the management.”

He said the Government was aiming to expand tourism and associated with that expansion will be a label that will bring to T&T the benefits as described.

Rowley said the same model that the Government used with state-owned Hilton Trinidad and Hyatt Regency Hotels, they will adapt for Sandals.

“We will be very pleased to be able to put on it a brand that by nature will attract to Tobago certain kinds of responses.”

He said the scale at which they want to build Sandals will have a transformation effect on Tobago.

“Not by just tourists coming to a location but by the economy of Tobago, which has become fairly comfortable without doing certain things and we are aiming to use it to lift Tobago as a Caribbean destination.”

Rowley said he was confident that if we welcome Sandals to T&T it would be a plus for our effort and economy.

“We will do anything that is reasonably possible and doable to keep that as one of the projects we are working on.”

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley yesterday made it abundantly clear that when he made his “shut your mouth” statement in relation to his proposed plan to house Dominicans affected by Hurricane Maria on Tuesday, he was not directing this to the public. Rather, he was referring to his Parliamentary colleagues.

Rowley tried to clear the air on his comments at a press conference at the Hyatt Regency, Port-of-Spain, yesterday, hours after he appeared at a Government forum looking at the state of the economy at the same venue.

During a sod-turning ceremony for the Churchill Roosevelt Highway Extension to Manzanilla in Cumuto on Tuesday, Rowley said he had been disturbed by the negative comments his suggestion had brought.

Alluding to the fact that similar anti-Caricom sentiments had almost sparked a boycott of T&T goods by Jamaicans the year before, Rowley had said: “Those now who have a lot to say about what I said about Dominica had misconducted themselves and so annoyed our Caricom purchasers of our goods that we were in danger of losing our Caricom market and all I will say to them is just shut your mouth and let Trinidad and Tobago strive.”

Yesterday, however, some people on social media felt his remarks were un-priministerial, which the media brought to his attention during the press conference.

But in going back to the issue, Rowley said the sound bite of what he said “portrayed what I said in an incorrect way.”

Rowley said he spoke “specifically to the politicians who had put us in difficulty with Jamaica under the UNC. And that difficulty they put us in caused me to have to go to Jamaica eventually and prevent Jamaicans from boycotting our manufacturing goods.”

The PM said these same people who would have seen the outcome of their behaviour then “have learnt nothing, jumped out of the forefront again of this situation and have either encouraged or have themselves made statements which could damage Trinidad and Tobago’s interest in the very Caribbean, among the very market partners. And they are the ones I was saying we would just appreciate if you just shut up and let the country strive.”

“I was not talking about John Public across the board. I was talking to my Parliamentary colleagues who got us into trouble in 2010/2011 and who are again at it.”

BHOE SURPRISED ME

Rowley said he was particularly surprised at Opposition MP Bhoe Tewarie, who he thought was a Caribbean man and who would have been in a position to empathise with what is happening “if only from whence he had come.”

With his shut your mouth statement, Rowley said he has not “in any way put an impediment in the way of anybody’s free speech. I am exercising my free speech.”

Rowley also made it clear that it was never his “statement or intention to offload Dominicans into T&T.”

He said he chose his words very carefully when he urged citizens in T&T who could accommodate relatives and friends from ravaged Dominica if they had the wherewithal to get here, saying Government would facilitate their entry and extended stay as oppose to providing them with cash.

“I think the vast majority of people understand what I said and what I am thinking and I think the response of the vast majority of people in this country is what I expected it to be,” the PM said.

Rowley said following his proposal he was not surprised by a small minority who published “some of the nastiest responses to my comment, which has belittled and embarrassed our country. They are the ones I am speaking to…especially the ones in the political arena who believe that their political fortunes can only be advanced by the nastiness they would encourage amongst our population.”

Hold strain, vary your taste - and cut that Forex use.

With that advice, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley yesterday put T&T on notice that Government’s first priority for foreign exchange will be given to firms or industries that generate reasonable amounts of foreign exchange earning.

“If the demand for foreign exchange isn’t curtailed we’ll eventually be forced to live with the rate determined by the market. This is where holding strain and varying our tastes come in,” Rowley said at yesterday’s Government symposium on T&T’s economic situation, titled “The Road Ahead.” Attendees included private and public sector leaders, academics and students.

Although it precedes Monday’s 2018 Budget presentation, Government said the session wasn’t about Budget preparations but about brainstorming on T&T’s way forward. However, he said if anything emerged from the session that could go into the Budget the door was open.

But Rowley warned Government’s revenue collection will be tighter in 2018 and “there’ll be some things which the country may want to happen in 2018 which will have to be postponed.”

Rowley said T&T’s biggest challenge was dealing with the deficit and restoring growth following its “very bad economic and financial” situation.

He warned, “The revenue situation facing us in 2018 remains a very challenging one. Government will be taking steps necessary to ensure it will be tightening revenue collection mechanisms.

“The country, out of necessity, should remain open to any and all suggestions to boost revenue levels. We’re hopeful that today, even at this late stage, useful suggestions can still be put forward, if not for Budget, but for months and years ahead.”

He said new expenditure monitoring systems and a new procurement system ahead are expected to reduce expenditure levels.

“But faced with a possible deficit in 2018 - about $18 billion dollars - further expenditure cuts will be unavoidable. There will be some things which the country may want to happen in 2018 which will have to be postponed,” Rowley said.

“This is where the population’s patience will be important. As we position ourselves to do more with less in the future, we’ll have to hold some strain for now.”

Calling for national efforts to prioritise use of limited inflows of foreign exchange, he added, “We will not be going back to the exchange controls we had before 1993, but we’ll certainly not be using up our foreign reserves to keep the exchange rate at levels which will maximise our imports.”

He said when T&T was in a period of favourable foreign exchange inflows,”if the market called for a big change in the exchange rate, we’d use our reserves and put enough currency in the market to keep the rate at a level with which we were comfortable.”

“However, in this period of significant decline in foreign exchange inflows it will be unreasonable and dangerous to use up our foreign reserves as we were accustomed. This would be paving our way into the IMF’s arms - something this government isn’t prepared to do.”

“The only way in which the exchange rate will be held to its traditional level is if we cut back on demand, bringing demand more in line with the reduced inflows. This is where prioritising comes in.”

Change behaviours in T&T and raise the retirement age from 60 to 65 in order to increase productivity levels.

These were among suggested solutions to move T&T forward from T&T Chamber of Commerce president Ronald Hinds and economist Dr Roger Hosein at yesterday’s Government think-tank at the Hyatt Regency to drum up solutions to get T&T moving out of its economic circumstances and in new directions away from oil dependency.

Hinds said change in behaviours and certain culture was imperative in order to change T&T’s negative bottom-line “figures.”

He said Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s proposal yesterday for private sector investment in priority sector depends on changed behaviours. This is because there is a lot of absenteeism and low productivity in T&T, he added

“If that’s (behaviour) left unchanged it will negatively impact on every sector identified for diversification,” Hinds said.

He said diversification will only be successful if issues that need to be addressed are pre-identified and real cultural shifts are implemented.

Hinds said the Chamber recognised there are complex difficult choices to be made, but noted the current culture is inimical to transformation. While acknowledging business was one of the sectors that needs to change, Hinds said it was inaccurate to call on others to change “if you don’t change yourself.”

On another of the PM’s statements, Hinds said the Forex rate is one of the key drivers of the import/export behaviours. He said proper management of currency depreciation rates could contribute to import reduction and lowering consumption patterns.

Citing the “ferry fiasco, he said value for money could also be obtained by changing systems rather than exhortations only.

Economist Hosein said the labour force participation rate was 59.8 per cent when it should be 75 per cent.

“We’re losing potential productivity,” he added.

Hosein said it was time to consider increasing the retirement age from 60 to 65 to retain institutional memory and increase productivity.

South Chamber president Dr Thackeray Driver said issues to be addressed to move T&T forward included T&T’s ageing population and increasing the retirement age was one option to deal with that, along with migration of people.

Driver said while gas projects were increasing, Government’s revenue wouldn’t increase significantly.

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley is insisting his Government has no intention of devaluing the T&T dollar.

However, Finance Minister Colm Imbert says if T&T imports continue to exceed its export we could find ourselves in problems.

Rowley made the comment at a press conference at the Hyatt Regency, following Government’s consultation on the state of the economy, in response to questions on whether devaluation was ahead given the high consumption by citizens coupled with low foreign exchange reserves for Government.

But Rowley said that was not a matter for him at “this point in time” but for Imbert.

“But I am not treating with any devaluation. What I was speaking to was the whole question of how we manage our foreign exchange…it’s availability and utilisation, given the fact that the stream of foreign exchange has considerably been reduced and the short to medium term would be in that situation, so how we treat with it, so whoever is minister of finance in Trinidad and Tobago, that is part of his job. So let us see what he does,” Rowley said.

Rowley said T&T had already borrowed $7 billion.

“And that is…most of it is in foreign exchange. A significant portion of that has to be paid in US dollars. So if you keep on borrowing externally without an eye on how you are going to repay, and you get yourself to a point when that foreign debt is due you don’t have the foreign currency to pay, that is calamity you must avoid at all cost,” Rowley said.

Imbert then interjected, saying he learnt at the discussion that imports had exceeded exports in terms of dollar value.

“That is an untenable situation. The point the Prime Minister is making, we cannot continue like this. If we cannot suppress demand so that the value of import falls below the value of exports, then there would be so much pressure on the exchange rate that inevitably there would have to be some movement. But the Prime Minister was not saying remotely, even indirectly, that there was a devaluation that is going to take place,” Imbert said.

Imbert said we are now spending more US dollars than we are earning and reserves are depleting, while there was so much they can do in going to the international market to borrow.

“We have almost maxed out there as far as I am concerned,” Imbert said.

He also gave an update into the winding up of CL Financial, saying the liquidators were now in place.

“They would now go through the process of an orderly liquidation of CL Financial, primarily to repay the $15 billion of taxpayers money that was put into this private company.”

The total figure injected into Cl Financial was $23 billion, he said.

“We have recovered about $8 billion so we are looking at $15 billion of the people’s money that was put into a private company. We in the Government are looking at what we should do with the assets held by CL Financial group as the liquidation takes place.”

He said more information on CL Financial will be announced in Monday’s budget presentation.

Motorists were left in gridlock traffic for hours yesterday after flash-flooding occurred in Maraval, Santa Cruz, Diego Martin and along the Eastern Main Road.

In Santa Cruz, fire officers from the search and rescue team were called out to assist a man who was stranded in his vehicle at Hololo along the Saddle Road.

Fire officials said by the time they got to the man, he had already rescued himself. The man, the T&T Guardian was told, after sitting on the hood of his car for some time, waded through the flood waters to safety.

There was also flooding at the Water and Sewerage Authority sub-office in Santa Cruz as the river nearby overflowed.

There was bumper to bumper traffic along Saddle Road into Maraval where there was more flooding.

Videos posted on social media saw roadways gushing with water.

Businesses at Royal Palm hotel, in Maraval, were flooded and workers were seen sweeping water out of the various establishments.

In parts of Diego Martin motorists took the chance to drive through the flood.

Motorists were also stalled after attempting to navigate through the flooded streets.

In Morvant cars parked at a primary school were submerged in flood waters as well. There were reports of landslides and fallen trees in some areas of the country.

The Met office issued a bulletin stating that due to rainfall associated with the passage of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) major rivers were approaching threshold levels including the Caroni River.

The bulletin forecasted that rainfall is expected to continue into tomorrow.

“Citizens in general, and those residing in the Caroni River Basin in particular are asked to be on the alert for rising river levels and possible overspill. All necessary measures must be taken to preserve life and property,” meteorologist Albert Alexander said.