PM’s Office moves in July

Officials at Whitehall told Newsday yesterday that July is the “desired date” for the office of the Prime Minister to be shifted to this new building which was originally intended to house the new offices of the ministry of Public Administra-tion and Information. However, they were uncertain about how long the office of the Prime Minister would be based there or where it would be going once renovation works on Whitehall and the Red House have been completed.

Construction of the St Clair building and repairs to Whitehall and the Red House are being handled by the Urban Development Company of Trinidad and Tobago (Udecott).

Contacted yesterday, Udecott officials explained the company’s mandate involved construction of buildings for government, but these considerations were based on needs and can change, based on government’s directives.

Officials said this is what happened in the case of the St Clair building which was supposed to be the new offices for the Public Administration and Information ministry, but priority has been shifted towards placing the office of the Prime Minister there while Whitehall is being repaired. They ex-plained that this means the Public Administration and Information ministry will remain at its current location in the NALIS Building in Port-of-Spain.

Patrick Manning publicly expressed his desire on numerous occasions to move Parliament out of the Red House and place the office of the Prime Minister there. In an exclusive Newsday report on February 17, Government sources confirmed Parliament had received instructions to vacate the Red House as quickly as possible to make way for the office of the Prime Minis-ter. Sources said the plan was to temporarily house Parliament at the old National Library Building next to City Hall from as early as September.