Khan smiling about ministry’s $260M

FOLLOWING last Friday’s 2004/2005 Budget presentation in Parliament, Works and Transport Minister Franklin Khan has been given an additional reason to smile as his ministry has been allocated $77.7 million (for improvements in air, sea and land transport) and $182.3 million (to improve the country’s road and bridge infrastructure) in the 2005 Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP). Under the the 2005 PSIP, $5.3 million will be invested in airport infrastructure improvement and security. An Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) grant funding project to enhance airport security will continue with an additional allocation of $0.2 million “to provide security as well as to acquire security equipment.” An allocation of $4 million will be used to purchase aircraft navigation equipment and the Tobago House of Assembly has been allocated a sum of $1.8 million for the development of the Crown Point Airport.

For sea transport, sums of $0.5 million and $1.5 million have been allocated for the upgrading and modernisation of navigational aids and the reconstruction of berths at the Caricom wharves in Port-of-Spain, respectively. Government shipping facilities in Port-of-Spain will receive a $1.5 million upgrade which will include “the construction of a new terminal building and berths for new ferry vessels.” A $28.4 million allocation has been made to improve public transportation services in Trinidad and Tobago. Of this sum, $11.7 million will be used to acquire 12 articulated buses to enable the Public Services Transport Corporation to move more passengers. Sums of $3 million and $5 million have been allocated for the retrofitting of 36 Marcopolo buses with better engines and the purchase of 25 new buses.

The remaining sum will be used for “the refurbishment of the old railway building and other structures, protection of traffic regulation equipment in the maxi-taxi hub, and the construction of a transport hub in Tobago.” Approximately $0.8 million will be used for the installation of 80 zebra crossings in critical areas (especially near schools) while $1.3 million has been provided for the supply and installation of New Jersey-type barriers. With respect to improving TT’s road and bridge infrastructure, $93.5 million has been allocated under the National Highway Programme for the implementation and continuation of several projects throughout TT. Local Government bodies have been allocated a sum of $8.4 million for the rehabilitation of secondary roads and bridges in Trinidad.