Govt eases out of Manning’s regional gas pipeline project

So said Prime Minister Patrick Manning at a post-Cabinet news conference at Whitehall yesterday.

Manning said two pipelines were involved, one from Trinidad and Tobago to Grenada to St Vincent and the Grenadines and another from Trinidad and Tobago to Barbados to Martinque to St Lucia and Guadeloupe to Dominica. The cost of both pipelines was high and uneconomical.

Manning also disclosed that there would be a newly structured Petroleum Tax which might be announced before the Budget. He said Government had sought the expertise of a very distinguished international professor, to enable it to maximise the returns from the sector. He said the expert was in such demand that Government officials had to go to Seattle, London and other places to meet him.

On the question of an "early" Budget, Manning said the International Monetary Fund and World Bank held their annual meetings in Washington in September. He said because the finance ministers were required to attend this meeting, Government found it prudent to present the Budget either before, or after the meeting. He said there was no connection between the Budget and an early election.