Works Minister Rohan Sinanan says based on the feedback he has been getting on the use of the Cabo Star vessel, it is more than adequate to service the sea bridge between Trinidad and Tobago.
Sinanan was speaking at the commissioning of a bridge along the Torrib Tabaquite Road and tour of the constituency yesterday. Tabaquite MP Dr Surujrattan Rambachan accompanied Sinanan for the commissioning. Construction of the $28.5 million bridge began when Rambachan was Works Minister under the People’s Partnership government.
“The feedback from the truckers, the Tobago chamber and the stakeholders is that they are quite comfortable with the vessel itself,” Sinanan said.
He said they could not leave Trinidad on the normal 12 o’clock schedule. However, “as of today (Saturday), today is a rest day for the vessel, so once they start back the schedule will go back to the normal routine from tomorrow.
“The vessel is working as expected, the capacity, based on the feedback I am getting, it is much more than adequate and the passengers are very comfortable, it is taking significantly more passengers.”
Asked about future plans for servicing the sea bridge, Sinanan said the Government has a threefold plan which will culminate in the purchase of a vessel.
“We said from day one that is it a threefold—short term, which is the rental for one year; medium term ,which is a three-year rental; and the long term is the acquisition. Now that we have the short term in place, the medium term I am sure they will start on that procurement and they are in the process of liaising with the World Bank and other stakeholders to ensure that we inspect the correct vehicle for the purchase sometime later on.”
He said that process has already started, led by the Port Authority of T&T and its chairman, Allison Lewis.
He said although the cost of leasing the ferries are steep, the sea bridge needs to be serviced so Government had little choice.
“The thing about it is, the Tobago sea bridge is very important to both Trinidad and Tobago and it is something we would love to have a reduced price on but unfortunately because of the time, because of the emergency, there was a tender out there there was a procurement process and that is what was available. This is why we are going after a three-year time charter and we expect in a three-year time charter where we have more times for bids, we should get a better price.”
He said the ministry expects to construct and open 12 new bridges soon and construct another 24 in the coming fiscal year.
“We do have an ongoing programme, most of the bridges are almost at the stage of completion we have some challenges obviously with the funding, it has slowed the programme a bit, but the programme is ongoing. We are in the process now where we have 12 more bridges at the point of being awarded and then we are doing a new programme for another 24 bridges for the next fiscal year.”