Contract awarded for new highway

WORKS and Transport Minister Franklin Khan disclosed that a contract has been awarded for the design of the new highway from San Fernando to Point Fortin. Speaking during the Budget debate in the House of Representatives on Thursday, Khan said, “I am pleased to announce that the firm ND Lee International Ltd, in joint venture with Trintoplan Consultants Ltd, has been awarded the contract to design the highway from San Fernando to Point Fortin. We have instructed the consultant that the design will be done in segments so we can parallel the construction phase with the design phase, so we would not wait until we have the complete design into Point Fortin.” Noting that Trinidad and Tobago’s vehicle population had already reached developed-nation status, the minister said this was one of the reasons why Government decided to fast-track the implementation of a light-rail system in the country.

The proposed system will run from Arima to Diego Martin and Port-of-Spain to San Fernando. “We will proceed very shortly to ask for expressions of interest on this project even while the full feasibility is in progress,” Khan stated. Referring to a concept paper from the Rites Group of India, the minister said he was baffled as to why the former government never pursued a deeper alliance with India in the sphere of technological development, but went to India “for rice.” Khan also said initiatives such as the Uriah Butler/Churchill Roosevelt Highway Interchange and Alternative Routes Network would receive significant attention in the fiscal year 2005. He told Fyzabad MP Chandresh Sharma that Fyzabad would no longer be “a dead-end town” because Government plans to connect it to Point Fortin by opening up oilfield roads in the area. On the issue of transparency, Khan said all contracts awarded by the ministry in the fiscal year 2004 were approved by the Central Tenders Board.