Sinanan: Maracas open for Carnival

Responding to a question in the Senate from Opposition Senator Wade Mark, Sinanan said the Maracas Beach upgrade was begun in July 2015 at a cost of over $100 million. While the project was supposed to be finished in 26 weeks, Sinanan said by January 2016, “over $25 million was disbursed and the project was just about ten percent completed.” He said the new People’s National Movement (PNM) administration stopped the project and the National Infrastructure Development Company (Nidco) “is in the process right now of evaluating new bids to award a new contractor on site based on the evaluation of the tenders.” Sinanan said when the PNM assumed office in September 2015, Kall Co was the contractor on site in Maracas.

He reiterated that the contractor and the former contract for the upgrade have been terminated.

Sinanan disclosed that his ministry and the Tourism Ministry have “re-scoped the work to have this project completed within the next five months.” He added that while this project “cannot be completed for Carnival,” steps have been taken to ensure the facilities at Maracas Beach “are kept up to a certain standard so we do not run into any problems with the visitors that will be visiting the facility over the Carnival season.” He said these steps included cleaning drains, fixing pumps and leaving a team on site to ensure that visitors to the beach over the Carnival period experience no form of discomfort as happened two weeks ago when there was a downpour of rain. When Mark asked if the Government was considering any legal action against Kall Co, Sinanan replied, “Coming into government after 2015, the new government found itself dealing with a lot of contracts that have to be referred to the legal team.” He told Mark, who was Speaker of the House of Representatives under the PP, “I am sure that contract is one of them that is engaging the attention of the Attorney General and his department at this time.”